A New Life Begins Part 1
by marion-gw47
Summary: A Water Fall's 'sequal' focusing on Mel and Jim's new life. To know more check the A/N on the last chap of my first story. I don't own anything from GW, only the fic's storyline and the characters that aren't on the show. Hope you enjoy!
1. Going Back On Normal Life

**Ok so here is the first chap of my second fanfiction. As usual I don't own anything from the show, I only own the fic's storyline and the characters that aren't in the show. I'm sorry that i haven't writen this sooner i've just been pretty busy and it has been kinda hard for me to go back on writing.. but well i hope you'll like it.**

**Thanks a lot for reading and well... reviews are really appreciated ;)**

**Chapter 1**

Mel and Jim were back from Georgia for a couple of days. It was now Tuesday morning and Melinda was going back to work today. As Jim had been on a night shift the night before, he was still sleeping when Melinda got up to get ready, she quietly got dressed and went downstairs. She was just starting to drink her herbal tea when she heard footsteps.

'Hey! What are you doing up?' she asked softly, looking towards Jim.

He was only wearing the down part of his pajamas.

'Wanted to see you before you go.' Jim answered simply, before yawning.

Mel turned on her footstool to face him. He walked towards her and sweetly kissed her neck.

'Slept well?' Jim asked her.

'Yeah...' Mel answered slowly.

'That's a 'yeah' that means no, to me.' Jim replied.

He kept looking at Mel intensely, till she finally let it out.

'It's nothing, I just... missed you.' Mel started to explain, taking Jim's hands in hers. 'I guess I got used to have you with me almost all the time, now that we're back and that I had to sleep alone, it was a bit hard. But it's fine, really.'

'Ah, ok. I understand.' Jim said a bit sadly. 'I'm sorry.'

Mel could feel his guilt, so she gently squeezed Jim's hand.

'Hey, it's not your fault!' she started. 'That week away was amazing, really I can't thank you enough for it. I just need some time to 're adapt' to our normal life. As long as we get to be with each other as much as we can it'll be fine.' she finished smiling.

'I agree with this. I wanna be with you as much as I can, which is why I got up.' Jim said softly, leaning down to give her a quick, yet tender kiss.

'I'm glad you did.' Mel said after kissing him back. 'But you really should go back to bed, you've only been home for a couple of hours, you need to rest.'

'Yeah, well you'll be gone in a few minutes, so then, I'll be able to sleep all day if I want to.' Jim said.

'Really?' Mel said, frowning her eyebrows. 'All day?'

'Yeah...' Jim said in a I-don't-see-what's-wrong-with-that tone.

'Don't tell me you for-'

'I haven't. You really think I'd forget this?' Jim said smiling.

'You better not.' Mel replied in a fake threatening voice.

Jim came behind her and took her in his arms.

'Worried?' he slowly asked to her ear.

'I guess so. Sounds like Dr Williams was right; we can't ever stop worry.' Mel said with a light laugh.

'It's just a control visit, everything was fine a few days ago there's no reasons it won't be now.' Jim said trying to reassure Mel.

'I know.' Mel said in a whisper, knowing he was certainly right but still unable to stop worrying.

'You want me to pick you up at the store or we meet directly at the hospital?' Jim asked resting his head on Mel's shoulder.

'I think you better pick me up.' Mel said after a few seconds of thinking. 'Otherwise I'll probably go there way to early and worry like crazy while waiting.'

'I thought so.' Jim said laughing. 'Hey, since the appointment is early on the afternoon, why don't we go have lunch together before?' Jim proposed.

'For someone who was supposed to sleep all day, you already have a lot planned.' Mel pointed amused.

'Well if you don't want to it's fine.' Jim said jokingly.

'Oh, come on, you know I'd love to, I just think you should rest, you only have a few hours left to sleep and you have an other shift this afternoon.' Mel said turning to look him in the eyes.

They both knew she was right.

'Ok, tell you what: I go to sleep as soon as you leave, I don't put any alarm or anything and I'll only come if I'm awake in time.' Jim said. 'If I'm still not at the store by... let's say 1pm then it means I'll only come in time to pick you up.'

'Alright.' Mel said holding her hands up in giving up gesture. She knew perfectly that even without any alarm, Jim would be awake in time to have lunch with her and even if she wanted Jim to rest, she wasn't going to fight him anymore since it meant she will spend more time with him.

'Ok, but you should still put one alarm.' Mel added even if it was useless. 'If by any chance you're still sleeping after 1pm, then you'll need something to wake you up for the appointment.' she finished.

'Right, I will.' Jim said smiling.

Him too knew perfectly he wouldn't need anything to wake him up to have lunch with Melinda, as much as he knew he wouldn't need anything to wake him up to be in time at the hospital to check on their baby.

'Ok... not that I want to, but I have to go now.' Mel said when she finished her tea.

'You're not eating more than this?' Jim asked, noticing that there wasn't anything else but the tea out on the table.

'I doubt it'll stay in.' Mel confessed.

'Oh... you're not feeling well again.' Jim said, worry in his voice.

'It's fine, just slightly nauseous, I haven't thrown up since yesterday.' Mel said reassuring him.

Jim was worried about her 'cause she was still pretty sick, but she made her best to eat as much as she could and they were both very careful to keep Mel well hydrated.

After a long and tight hug, Mel put her coat on and walked towards the door. Jim followed and opened the door for her.

'You're going to bed, right?' Mel asked smiling at him.

'Promise.' Jim said nodding.

He gently put his hands around Mel's face and kissed her deeply, while she put her arms around him.

'I love you.' Mel whispered when they pulled away.

'Love you too. Drive safe.' Jim replied kissing her head.

A while later, Melinda entered her store, making the little bell ring. She smiled at the sound and stood by the doorstep taking a deep breath. It felt so good to come back here, she truly loved everything in her shop.

'Hi! Can I hel-'

Mel heard as Delia walked from the back room.

'Melinda! Hey I'm so glad you're back!' Delia said, very excited, as she hurried to Mel. 'You ok?' she asked seeing no reaction from Mel.

'Yeah! Yeah I am. I'm just taking time to enjoy all this.' Melinda explained while opening her arms. 'Gosh I missed you so much!' she finally said before taking the last steps to hug her friend.

They hold each other for a moment, smiling.

'I'm sure you did.' Delia said sarcastically, looking at Mel after they pulled away.

'What?' Mel asked surprised.

'Oh let's see... You were in holidays for the first time in ages, with your amazing husband in a -according to what you told me on the phone- very beautiful place, lost in the woods.' Delia said laughing. 'I bet you took time to miss me.'

'Ok maybe I wasn't thinking about you all the time,' Mel confessed 'but I did miss you.'

'Sure.' Delia said smiling suspiciously. 'So how the rest of the holiday?'

'Great! It was really awesome. Plus we managed to help Timothy just in time, so everything ended well.' Mel told her.

'And it must have been good having Jim there.' Delia teased.

'It sure was.' Melinda said smiling shyly. 'The problem is that now I can't sleep if he's not with me...' she added.

'Ouch. He has a lot of night shifts ahead?' Delia asked.

'Yeah, well, not that much but he had one last night, he has another one tonight and then a couple more. He said that since he had been away for a week now he has no choice but take the worse hours.' Mel said sadly. 'So how are you?' she then asked as she didn't wanted Delia to feel sorry for her and put the mood down just minutes after she came back.

'I'm good, thanks.' Delia only answered.

'That's all? What about Ned? What about... you and Tim?' Mel asked smiling.

'Ned is fine, he has a new girlfriend.'

'Already? Wow, he doesn't lose any time.' Melinda said quickly.

'Yeah, I know... ' Delia sighed, shaking her head. 'And...'

'And?' Mel said laughing at Delia's sudden blushing.

'And I agree to go on a weekend with Tim.' Delia finally let out.

'Oh my god! That's great! I'm really happy for you guys.' Mel said happily.

'It is, uh?' Delia said smiling shyly. 'I'm just... terrified.' she confessed.

'Oh.. I'm sure it's gonna be very nice for you.' Mel said putting her hand on Delia's arm.

'I'm just... I'm not sure if I'm ready for this.'

'Delia, I may not have any experience in this but I think; the more you wait, the hardest it's gonna be.' Mel said trying to make her feel a bit more confident.

'You're probably right. Well anyway I still have time to get ready, we're not going till a few weeks so..' Delia said smiling warmly.

They continued chatting all morning, between the help to customers and the paper work. Melinda realized by organizing all the sales bills, that there had been a lot of work for Delia.

'Hey, why didn't you tell me how much the shop worked last week?' Melinda asked her, holding the papers up.

Delia who was just back from Village Java with teas and muffins looked at her feeling uneasy.

'I... I didn't wanted you to feel guilty for leaving the store during a busy time of year.' she said.

'You managed it all by yourself?' Mel asked.

'Yeah. Why?' Delia asked surprised.

'It's comforting me for- er... nothing.' Mel said awkwardly.

She had just almost told her it was comforting her for when she'd have to let Delia handle the store on her own when she couldn't work. Delia looked suspiciously at Melinda but didn't say a word. After a few awkward seconds, she handed Mel a tea.

'Thanks.'

'Muffin?' Delia proposed.

'Oh no, thanks.' Melinda said making a disgusted face.

'What's wrong?' Delia asked worried.

Mel would never refuse a muffin.

'Nothing, I'm just a bit nauseous, that's all.' Mel said.

'You're still sick? I thought you said were fine.'

'I said I was better.' Mel pointed, jokingly. 'I'm fine, Delia. Don't worry. I even took an appointment to confirm it.' Mel added seeing that Delia was truly worried.

'An appointment?'

'Yeah, just a routine visit at the hospital that they told me to do.' Mel said trying to be as honest as she could. 'By the way, Jim may be picking me up for lunch before we go there, so I won't be here a lot this afternoon, I'm sorry.' Mel told her.

'It's ok don't worry.' Delia said. 'Wait? Jim _may be_ picking you up?'

'Yeah, it's complicated. I'm pretty sure he'll come anyway.' Mel said shaking her head.

'Okay...' Delia said smiling. She loved all the weird things only Mel and Jim understood.

Sure enough a few minutes later, the bell rang at Jim entering the store.

'Hello, handsome! How are you?' Delia said happily.

'Hi Delia. I'm fine. You?' Jim said kissing her cheek.

'Except from having my boss back, I'm fine.' Delia joked.

'Hey! I heard that!' Mel said coming from the back room.

She laughed as Delia faked a 'oops...' at Jim.

'I should have bet.' Mel said watching her watches as she walked towards Jim. It was just 12.30pm. 'Did you sleep at all?' she asked him.

'Yes, I did. In fact I was still sleeping... half an hour ago.' Jim said taking Mel's hand to look at the time.

He kept her hand in his as Mel reached out to kiss him. A long tender kiss that would have probably embarrassed Delia if she wasn't used to them showing their love and affection without shame.

After waving at Delia, they left the store hand in hand. They ate at Lento's as it was the easiest place to go. Melinda spent most of the lunch telling to Jim what she had just learned from Delia. Tim's part was what interested Jim the most, since Tim hadn't told him yet. They figured Delia had asked Tim to wait till she had told Mel before he could tell Jim.

'So... ready?' Jim asked after paying the check.

'I wonder if I'll ever be...' Melinda replied with a shy smile.

'It's gonna be fine.' Jim said warmly, taking her hand.

They went to the car and Jim drove towards the hospital.


	2. The Second CheckUp

**Please read this! Hey guys, second chapter finally! I'm so sorry the update was planned much sooner but thanks to the storm here in france we haven't had any electricity for a whole day and then the electricity came back but it's the phone that wasn't working anymore and it means no internet either... anyway i'm sorry for the wait. From now on i'm planning on updating at least once a week, i know it's long but well I'm still in medschool and i'm also gonna try two contests in a few months to enter nurse school at the same time so my days are kinda busy... but if i can update quicker believe me i will :) **

**Now on the fic i really wanna thank all the people that left me comments (i would thank the others but if you don't let comment i can't know you read it ...) but really i so appreciated all the reviews! I never thought i would have that much in just a few days. It really motivated me so thank you a lot. **

**Thanks again for reading hope you'll like this chap and tell me what you think.**

**ps: emma there's no need to sign with the mean m&m ;) i read your reviews and really it's ok i'm not mad anymore. glad you like the story. sorry i forgot to say this on the first chap :)**

**Chapter 2**

Fifteen minutes later, Jim parked the car in front of the hospital. As Mel hadn't moved yet when he got out of the car, Jim quickly went to her side and opened the door.

'Honey?' he asked as she didn't react. 'Mel? Is everything ok?' He said as she slowly turned her towards him.

'Oh, sorry. I was lost in thoughts...' Mel said shaking her head slightly, turning herself so she was facing Jim, but still seated.

'About?' Jim asked caressing her cheek softly.

'You know what, we're gonna be late. We'll talk about this later.' Mel said in a hurry, trying to get up as she didn't wanted to bother Jim with this again.

'Slow down.' Jim said stopping her. 'We're early so you still have time to tell me what's on your mind.' he added as Mel sat back down. 'Is it worry for the baby?'

'No... well there's probably a bit of this too but there it's... Andrea...' Mel said in a sigh.

Jim could perfectly see and hear the sadness in Mel's voice and the mood she was in.

'You're still thinking about what happened when Timothy crossed over?' Jim asked with warm tone.

'Yeah, I'm sorry to bother you with this again.' Mel said looking down.

They had talked about this a lot since it had happened. Jim gently took Mel's chin to make her look up.

'Hey, babe, I don't want you to ever feel bad about telling me things, ok? Especially when it comes to Andrea.' he said comforting. 'I know how much you miss her and I understand that you're thinking about her a lot, even more with what happened, so if you need to talk about her, I'll always be here.'

Mel looked deeply in his eyes, she could see all his love and concern. This, plus all that she was going through and the hormones helping, was kind of overwhelming for her. She tried a weak smile as tears started to show in her eyes.

'Thanks, Jim.' she managed to say.

He leaned down and softly kissed Mel's forehead, as she closed her eyes for a second.

'It's been a-'

'You wanna-'

They both laughed.

'You first.' Jim said nodding his head.

'I was thinking that it's been a while since I last went to see Andrea.' Mel said in a little voice. 'What?' she added, surprised by Jim's smile at this.

'I was about to ask if you wanted to go see her.' Jim explained taking Mel's hands.

'You really do read my mind, don't you?' she said with a smile.

'Ah, that's better.' Jim said enjoying to see Mel smiling. 'So when do you wanna go?'

'Maybe after the appointment.' Mel said thinking about it.

She looked at Jim intensely as he opened his mouth before closing it, twice.

'What's wrong?' she asked with a funny look.

'I... I wanted to ask you if you wanted me to go with you, but I'm not sure I could come so...' Jim said a bit awkwardly.

'Oh... why?' Mel asked.

'Why would I wanna go with you or we couldn't I?'

'No, I think I know why you wanna go with me.' Mel said with a thankful half-smile.

'Well, my shift starts at 4pm, the appointment is at 2pm but they're never on schedule, so I'm afraid I'd have to go shortly after we're out of here.' Jim explained.

'Oh...' Mel said clearly disappointed.

She did like to talk to Andrea alone but it always helped her to know that Jim wasn't far.

'I'm sorry Mel.' Jim said sadly.

'Hey, it's not your fault. Maybe we can go an other day, it's not like she's gonna go anywhere.' Mel said trying to lighten to mood.

'Ok, well tomorrow I don't have to be in till 8pm, it leaves us enough time after you've closed the store.' Jim said.

'Yeah, that would be great.' Mel replied gratefully.

She got up from the car seat and after a soft kiss, she hugged Jim very tightly. After a few minutes, they pulled away.

'We really should go now, or we will be late this time.' Jim said smiling as he put a lock of hair out of Mel's face.

'Told you.' Mel said joking.

'You ready?' Jim asked for the second time today.

'I think so...'

She waited for Jim to lock the car to take his hand and they walked towards the hospital.

As Jim expected, the doc wasn't on schedule, it was now 2.20pm and they were still on the waiting room of Mel's ob-gyn. Jim noticed that Mel was biting her nails and torturing the skin around it, so he gently took her hands and gave her one of his instantly comforting smile. About ten minutes later, the office door finally opened up.

'I'll see you back in a month.' said the woman in a warm voice.

She shook the hand of her very pregnant patient and smiled at her. She then turned her look towards the waiting room and saw Mel and Jim. Mel was resting on Jim's shoulder and he had his arms around her, still keeping her hands in his. As they were the next to go she tried to get their attention.

'Melinda?'

'Oh sorry.' Mel answered. 'I didn't hear you coming out.' she apologized, quickly getting up. 'Wow...'

'Mel, you ok?' Jim asked, worried to see her almost loosing her balance.

'Yeah I'm fine, just got up too fast I guess.' Mel explained with a shy smile. 'I'm ok now.'

'Good.' the woman answered, obviously relieved. 'I'm so sorry I made you wait, I've had an emergency with one of my patient.' she explained.

'Not too serious I hope.' Mel asked concerned.

'No, she's fine now, her babies too.' the doctor said with a large smile. 'Yeah, she's having triplets.' she added seeing Mel and Jim' surprise at the _babies. _

'Wow!' Mel said admiring.

She then noticed that Jim hadn't say a word since the 'waking up too fast incident' and realized that he had never met the doctor. Why would he? He had no reasons to go with Mel at her gynecologist's control visits.

'Dr Perez, this is Jim Clancy, my husband.'

'Hi.' Jim said simply, holding his hand up, finally letting go of Mel's ones.

'Nice to meet you Mr Clancy.' replied Dr Perez politely, shaking his hand.

'Jim, please.' he said with a smile.

'Okay, so you can come in now.' she said leading them into her office.

She waited for them to enter before closing the door behind them.

'So, on the phone you said you needed a second check up?' she asked professionally as she made her way behind her desk. 'Please, sit down.' she added as Mel and Jim were still standing, up, in front of her desk.

'That's right. Actually it's a check up both on her and the baby.' Jim clarified as he and Mel sat down.

'When did you find out you were pregnant?' Dr Perez asked Mel.

'About a couple of weeks ago.' Mel said with an interrogating look for Jim. As he nodded she continued: 'I was a week late, so we took a test and then I made a blood test to confirm.' she explained.

'Alright.' the doctor said writing all this on Mel's chart. 'Hm... you said that you had to make an other check up. Was there a particular reason for you to make the first one?' she asked as she found a bit surprising to make two checkups in just a few days and she would have expected Mel to come to her directly the first time.

'Yes, there was. I didn't wanted to explain all this over the phone, but we were in holidays the past week,' Mel started to explain looking quickly at Jim before focusing back on Dr Perez, 'and well, I've had some dehydration problems and I faint, twice in fact. Plus I've had an accident with someone before that and we started to be pretty worried so while I was on the hospital, we asked if they could check on the baby.' Mel made a little pause to take her breath back. 'Everything as fine, but the doctor there said it would be wiser to make sure it stayed like this by checking a few days later, both for the baby and to calm our anxiety, so here we are.' Mel finished with a little smile.

'Wow seems like you've had a busy week.' the woman said her eyes wide opened. 'So before we talk about the baby, how do you feel?'

'I feel pretty good today. I ate correctly at lunch, haven't have nausea so far. So it's going better since until yesterday I had lots of nauseas and I was sick a lot.' Mel said.

'That may be only temporary since you probably will feel nauseous for a while. I don't want to be pessimist I just wanna make sure you know that if the sickness comes back, it's normal.' she added with a soft smile. 'Ok, seeing the condition I think we're going to do the ultrasound now and we'll talk about the rest after.'

'Thanks.' said both Mel and Jim.

So they got up, following Dr Perez to the examination table where Mel lied down as the doctor motioned her to. She made a quick exam of Mel; blood pressure, heartbeat... the usual. Then she put the ultrasound machine on and put Mel's top over her stomach.

'Sorry, it's gonna be cold' she warned Mel as she took the gel bottle and put some on Mel's stomach.

She then took the probe, sat on the stool and slowly put it on Mel's belly.

Mel and Jim looked at each other, a bit worried but mostly excited. Jim was at Mel's left side, holding her left hand and gently stroking her hair.

It took about a minute -much longer from Mel and Jim's point of view- or so to Dr Perez to find what she was looking for.

'Well, everything looks fine.' she finally told them, ending their breath holding.

Mel and Jim both happily sighed from relief, they smiled at each other while the doctor was making measures on the screen. They looked at the screen and from the angle Mel and Jim realized that the dark spot actually looked a lot like a baby, a very tiny one but it was definitely the shape of a baby.

'Seems like you're a little over nine weeks... we'll-'

'Err... sorry but... nine weeks?' Mel asked surprised, stepping out of her contemplation of the screen. 'A few days ago, Dr Williams told us it was seven weeks, how can it be nine now?' she said, looked from Jim to Dr Perez.

'I think it depends whether you start counting from your last period or from the conception.' Jim said looking at Mel. He then looked at Dr Perez: 'I think?'

'Yeah, it's rare but some doctors count from the conception which seems more logical but it's unusual. It's probably this,' the woman said, looking back at the screen, 'because I don't see how he could have made a two weeks mistake at this stage of development. Anyway as I was about to say we'll check this after, but the most important now is that everything is going fine and since, Melinda, you told me that you are feeling well, there's no reasons to do more check up , other than the necessary ones.' she finished.

'That's great news, thanks Dr.' Mel replied with a big smile.

While the doc walked towards her desk, Jim helped Mel clean up her stomach and as soon as she got up, Mel leaned against his chest, as he wrapped his arms around her.

'Feeling better?' Jim asked as they pulled away.

'A lot better.' Mel replied with a huge smile. 'You?'

'A lot more than I thought, actually. I guess I hadn't realized how worried I really was.' Jim confessed.

After writing down the ultrasound results, Dr Perez waited for them to come back, which they did; after a soft cough from her.

'So to be more precise I have to know when were your last periods?' the woman asked after they sat down.

Mel took a moment, thinking. She looked up, frowning her eyebrows. She realized that, with everything she had on her mind lately, her periods weren't her first preoccupation and she couldn't remember exactly. She shyly looked at Jim, who understanding quickly, smiled.

'Your diary?' he simply said.

'Right.' Mel said slowly, looking suspiciously at him.

She took her purse and took out a little notepad where she wrote down all her appointments, the estate sales... and she also took the habit to mark the day of her periods to make it easier to keep track of her cycles.

'August 17th.' Mel said after checking the calendar.

'Ok, so you are definitely nine weeks pregnant.' Dr Perez said with a smile. 'As for the term, well 40 weeks brings us.... in May, the 25 th.' she told them after looking at a ring paper giving her the due date from what Mel had told her. 'I'll come back in a minute, I need to get you something.' she added getting up and leaving the office.

'Wow...' Mel heard herself say.

'Yeah...' Jim replied in the same kind of shocked tone.

'I seems so real now... the 25th of May we'll be... parents.' Mel said staring at the whole in front of her. 'Can you imagine that yet?' she asked Jim getting her attention back on him.

'I'm not sure yet... I mean, of course I'm aware that you're pregnant but... I don't picture me as a... dad. Which is weird since I have no problems picturing you as a mom.' Jim added smiling at her.

'Really?'

'Yeah and I'm sure you'll be a great one.' Jim added.

They were just pulling away from a quick kiss when Dr Perez came back. She sat down and handed a few flayers wearing 'Driscoll County Hospital''s inscription.

'Here are some informations about all the kinds of classes given here for the birth preparation. You still have time before starting them but it's highly recommended to think about it before, talk about it together so you know what you wanna do when the time comes.' the doctor explained, smiling at them.

'Ok, thanks.' Jim said, taking the papers as Mel still seemed far away.

After scheduling the next appointment and taking their baby's second picture, Mel and Jim got up to leave.

'Feel free to call me if you have any questions, worry, anything.' she told them with a warm smile.

'Thanks Dr.' Jim said while shaking her hand.

'Take care, Melinda, oh and how could I forgot; congratulations!' the woman said while shaking Mel's hand.

'Thank you. See you in a month.' Mel replied smiling.

'Actually you might see a midwife for the next appointment, if there's nothing wrong they're usually the ones following the pregnancies of my patients. But if you feel more secure having me following it, I can.' Dr Perez said.

'Oh, no it's fine with me.' Mel replied,looking at Jim, who nodded. 'Ok, just see you, then.' she said with a smile, before they left the hospital.

'Can I ask you something?' Mel said while they were driving back to the village square.

'Sure'

'How can you know about my notepad?' Mel finally asked. She was wondering ever since he reminded her of it. 'I never told you about this and it's not like something I'm talking a lot about.'

'I just... I noticed that you were doing something in it every time you had your periods, so I just guessed it was it, that's all.' Jim explained.

'That's... embarrassing.' Mel said.

'Why? It's not like I don't know when you had them anyway.' Jim said. 'What? I'm sorry I just feel it, besides it's rare when we spend more than a week without, you know...' Jim said teasing.

'Right.' Mel said. 'Still it's unbelievable how well you know me. Even more than I do apparently.' she added.

'Is that a bad thing?' Jim asked jokingly, while stopping the car in front of Mel's shop.

'No... It's kinda scary but sweet too.' Mel said looking intensely at him before Jim reached over to kiss her cheek. 'You gotta go now?' she then asked, seeing him looking at her watches.

'I still have half an hour actually.' Jim replied with a smile.

'Good. You coming with me?' Mel asked hopeful.

As Jim, with no surprise, decided to stay with Mel till he had to go to work, they left the car and walk towards the shop.

'Hey, you!' Delia said as they walked in.

'Hey, Delia. How was your day?' Mel asked smiling happily.

'Good, slow but good.' Delia replied. 'So how are you?'

'I'm perfectly fine. They don't wanna see me again.' Mel said, knowing that Delia would probably know she was pregnant before the next appointment anyway, so she won't have to explain the next time.

'Great!' Delia said obviously relieved.

Mel smiled at her before Delia went back on the items rearrangement she was doing. She knew that if Jim came at the store it wasn't to look at her and Melinda talking or working, so she figured she will let them alone till Jim left and then they could go back on their usual girl talk.

'So we'll be in the back if you need me.' Mel said while walking, well, to the back.

'Ok' Delia replied.

There wasn't much to do for them and since they couldn't talk about the baby with Delia in the other room, they just talked about random stuff, except for finally setting a date for the diner with their moms.

Too quickly for them, the time for Jim to leave came.

'Try to sleep, alright?' Jim said while getting his jacket.

'I'll try, I promise.' Mel said sincerely, even though she knew she probably wouldn't sleep till he was back.

'Ok, I'll be back at midnight, I'll call you if it's later 'cause of a last minute emergency and yeah, I know, I'll wake you up when I'll be home, no matter what.' Jim said putting his hand on her hips.

'Stay safe.' Mel said putting her hands on his chest, 'and call me even if there's no emergencies.' Mel added.

'I will. I love you, Mel.'

'I love you too.'

They hugged for a long minute, before Jim walked out of the store, while Mel stood in the back where she heard him talk to Delia.

'Bye Delia.'

'See you, Jim'

After a few minutes, Delia went in the back.

'You sure you're ok?' she asked Mel.

'Yeah, why?' Mel asked with a true smile.

'I dunno... you two just look... more into each other than ever...' Delia said, saying it as if it wasn't even possible for her.

'What's wrong with that?' Mel asked amused.

'Nothing.' Delia said, giving up on trying to get Mel to tell her more.

She felt there was definitely something, she couldn't figure out what it was, though.

Later this afternoon, Delia was getting ready to go home, when she saw Mel still on the back working on some new items they had bought a few weeks ago.

'Mel? You're not going home?'

'Nope...'

'Melinda, I heard you promise to Jim you'd try to sleep.' Delia said with a mothering tone.

'Come on, it's 6pm.' Mel said smiling. 'It's still early, ok. I'll just do some more work and then I'll go. I almost haven't done anything today, besides I _know_ that I won't manage to sleep till he's back, so I might as well stay here for one more hour, it won't change anything.'

'Alright, you're my boss I can't take you home by force, but know that as a friend I really want to.' Delia said half-serious half-joking.

'I'm fine Delia, I swear to you I'm fine. Jim was with me at the appointment. You think he would have let me say I was fine if I wasn't?' Mel said trying to reassure her friend, as it was clear she was worried for her.

'Ok, I believe you. I guess I just missed you a lot and I need to check on you. Even more than before.' she added as Mel laughed slightly.

After a hug, Delia left, leaving Mel working. She spent about an hour and a half before finally switching off the lights and closing the store. She sighted as she got into her car, far from thrilled to drive back to her empty house where she would stay up, waiting for Jim.


	3. Visiting Andrea

**Hey, everyone! Next chap up in less than a week ;). hope you'll enjoy! Oh and about the ghosts, like I said i might mention some sometimes but there will not have big ghost stories to resolve for Mel on this story.**

**Thanks for reading and thanks a lot for all the wonderful reviews! It's very very appreciated!**

**Chapter 3 ~Visiting Andrea.~**

After closing the door behind her, Mel put her purse on the stair's couch and threw her jacket on the coat rack. She walked to the kitchen and saw a plate covered with a napkin. She smiled as she looked what was in it. Pancakes. Jim had made her pancakes. He really wanted her to eat, she thought, as pancakes, these days, were almost the only thing, with soup, that she could eat without having nauseas. She took one and started eating it while taking a bottle of water in the fridge. Then she took the plate and the bottle and walked to the living room, she put it all on the coffee table and took the television remote. She watched tv while eating a few more pancakes. She was so absent-minded that she couldn't even say what she had just watched when she finished the pancakes. After drinking some more water Mel decided she really needed to try and rest, so she got up and headed towards the stairs.

As soon as his shift was finally over, Jim grabbed all his stuff and quickly left only saying a quick 'bye' to some of the guys. He had called Mel twice since he was at work, it was now a bit after midnight but he choose not to call Mel 'cause if by any chance she was sleeping, he wanted to let her rest till he came back. It wasn't that late so she shouldn't worry not seeing him back yet.

When he arrived home, he was glad to see no lights on. He quietly opened the door and put his stuff at the bottom of the stairs, trying to make as little noise as he could. He smiled as he saw the empty plate and the half-empty bottle of water on the coffee table. Jim then took the stairs and opened the bedroom door. He stood there a minute watching her. Mel was sitting on the window's couch, apparently sound asleep, her head resting on the curtains at the side of the window. Jim quietly walked towards her and sat down, facing her. He gently caressed her hair, whispering softly.

'Mel? Honey?'

Melinda slowly opened her eyes, she instantly smiled at the sight of Jim.

'Hey... I didn't hear you coming back.' Mel said, only saying the obvious.

'What are you doing up here?' Jim asked softly, cupping her head in his hand.

'I tried to sleep, I really did.' Mel said putting a hand on Jim's. 'But I couldn't, so I got up and went here to look at the moon.' Mel said pointing a finger at the window. 'Look, it's almost full, it's so beautiful. I love watching the moon and obviously it's helping me sleep.' Mel said with a smile, while Jim followed her gaze.

Jim got up, only to sit back down behind Mel, taking her in his arms.

'Indeed, it's very beautiful.' he said before kissing her neck.

They stood there, watching the moon together a few more minutes before Jim carefully picked up Mel and brought her to their bed, as she had fallen asleep again.

After putting her under the cover, Jim took his clothes off and went to bed too, kissing Mel's head before falling asleep himself.

The next morning, Mel was glad that she had managed to get up and ready without waking Jim up, but she knew he would want her to wake him up before leaving, just like she wanted him to wake her up when he got home late from work. So after forcing herself to drink her tea and eat some bread with jam, she went upstairs to the bedroom. She woke Jim up with a soft kiss, before kneeling down.

'Morning.' she whispered.

'Hey, babe.' Jim said in sleepy tone. 'What's up?' he asked while putting himself on his left elbow to look at Mel.

'Just going to work, wanted to say 'good morning' before leaving. Just go back to sleep, now.' Mel replied softly.

'Oh, ok. Thanks.' Jim said without totally realizing what was going on.

'Ok.. so see you tonight?' Mel asked.

'Sure. What about lunch?' Jim said.

'I told Delia I will go with her, today.' Mel said. 'It means you can sleep all day this time, if you want.' she added jokingly.

'Great.' Jim said smiling at her. 'So I'll just pick you up when you'll close the store, then.'

Mel nodded, before getting up.

'Sleep well.' she said before kissing him, a long tender kiss. 'I love you.'

'Love you too, honey.' Jim replied in a yawn.

'Ok, really, go back to sleep now.' Mel said laughing, before leaving the room.

The day at the store went by calmly, there was quite a lot of customers but they weren't asking for help a lot. At lunch, Delia and Mel went at Lento's. Since she couldn't have pancakes there and that it was still early to have soup, Mel forced herself -for the second time of the day- to eat so Delia wouldn't get worried and suspicious again. She ordered pastas with tomato sauce. They had a nice time and Mel was glad to have these girl talk back, 'cause well Jim was very nice company but Mel couldn't really talk about make up or stuff like this with him, and she wasn't close enough to Katie to have these talks with her.

The rest of the day was just like the morning, although Mel was getting a bit more tense as time went by. Delia noticed it and couldn't help but ask.

'Melinda? Is there something wrong?'

'No... well it's just that I'm going to see Andrea after work so...'

'Aww... I understand... Will you be ok?' Delia asked softly while putting her arm around Mel to comfort her.

'Yeah, don't worry, Jim will be coming with me, anyway.' Mel said with a smile.

They hugged and smiled at each other before going back to work. A few hours later, Delia went home, leaving Mel who was waiting for Jim. He arrived 10 minutes later and since Mel had been keeping an eye on the street, she was already out, closing the door by the time Jim stopped the car and started to get out.

'Hey, ready to go, I see.' Jim said walking towards her.

Mel only nodded at first.

'Let's go.' she then said.

Jim could tell that she had a weird behavior but he knew why, so he just nodded and opened her door before getting on the driver side.

When Jim pulled over at the cemetery, Melinda was looking at the graves by the window, she seemed lost in thoughts, Jim knew she was trying to get ready to go talk to her friend. He softly put his hand on Mel's leg.

'Sweetie, you want me to go with you?' Jim asked.

'Thanks, but I think I'll go alone first.' Mel said, looking at him with a little smile.

'Ok.' Jim said understanding.

He slowly leaned over and kissed Mel just above her ear. She got out of the car and looked at Jim one last time before walking towards the big tree watching over Andrea's grave. There wasn't much people in the cemetery, only a man actually, about her age. The closer Melinda was getting to the tree, the more she realized that the man was knelt down in front of her best friend's grave. To respect his intimacy, Mel stood by the tree, waiting for him to finish talking. When he got up and started to walk away, Mel couldn't help walking behind him.

'Excuse me?' she said trying to get his attention. 'Hi. I'm sorry to approach you like this but I saw you talking to Andrea and... I was wondering how did you know her?' Mel asked awkwardly. 'It must sound weird but it's just that I've never seen you before and... I'm curious I guess.' Mel tried to explain, but she was only getting more and more uncomfortable.

'Was she a friend a yours?' the man asked.

'Yeah, my best friend actually...' Mel said sadly, looking down. 'and my partner.'

'Oh, I'm sorry...' the man said in a soft voice. 'Wait a minute! You're Melinda, right?' he said suddenly realizing it. 'Andrea talked about you all the time.'

Mel nodded while looking up at him, he had a smile on his face and a very warm look.

'I wish I could say the same but... I still don't know who you are...' Mel said with a little voice.

'Oh, I'm sorry.' he said shaking his head and quickly reaching her. 'My name is Gavin. I knew Andrea from back in high school, we always kept touch but we couldn't see each other a lot 'cause-'

'Oh, my god!' Mel said interrupting him. 'Of course she talked about you. You're the humanitarian guy.' Mel said, getting excited as he nodded. 'I can't believe I'm finally meeting you. Andrea always said she wanted me to meet you to see how great you were.' Mel said smiling at the memory.

She could still hear Andrea: 'You would love him! He has such a big heart, he only lives to help people. You remind me of him a lot. You have more hair, though.'.

'Melinda?' Gavin said getting Mel out of her thoughts.

'Oh, sorry. So... you're still doing missions in Africa?' Mel asked.

'No, not anymore. I'm in Central America now, just coming back from Honduras.' Gavin told her.

'Wow, this is amazing, I've always admired you even without knowing. Now Andrea was talking about you so often that it was like I already knew you.' Mel said with a little laugh.

'Oh really, don't be impressed, anyone could do it.' Gavin said.

'Sure, the only difference between you and everyone is that, you, _do_ it.' Melinda said turning her head sideways with a half smile. 'You should be proud of yourself, you do something so beautiful helping all these people.'

'Thanks, but well it's also the reason why I didn't get to see one of my best friend one last time.' Gavin said sadly, looking towards Andrea's grave.

'Oh, I'm sorry... You were on a mission. Gosh I tried so hard to find a way to reach you when it happened but I didn't know what to do...' Mel said feeling so bad for the man and for herself at the memories of one of the most awful time of her life.

'I'm sorry for the troubles I caused you...'

'Oh, that's really not what I meant, I'm sorry.' Mel said quickly, putting her hand on Gavin's arm. 'I just.. I felt bad not being able to reach you, I figured you would wanna know, even if you couldn't come back but...'

'I would have came back, trust me.' he said in a way that Mel immediately caught how guilty he felt that he hadn't. 'I was on a mission in Burkina Faso and there was no way to be reached there, so I only learned she was gone when I came back... two months later...'

Mel could see how sad he was but she didn't know what to tell him, she was herself still so emotional about Andrea.

Just at this moment, they heard someone coming.

'Hey. Mel, is everything ok?' Jim asked concerned.

'Yeah. But I'm glad you came. Jim, this is Gavin. Gavin, my husband Jim.' Mel said introducing the men. 'Gavin is one of Andrea's old friend, he's the humanitarian.' she explained while they shake hands.

'Oh... I feel honored to meet you.' Jim said.

'Thanks, I'm glad to meet you too.' Gavin answered a bit awkwardly. He didn't like to be admired like this. Not that he didn't appreciate it, it just wasn't why he was doing this 'job'. 'Listen, I think I'm gonna let you talk to her, now.' he told them, putting his hand in his hair while looking at Andrea's grave. 'I just came back this morning so... I have things to do.' he finished.

'Oh, sure. Would you... Would you like to... take a coffee sometime or, well no coffee for me, I know.' Mel said looking at Jim. 'but just find some time to talk. I... besides Jim and Mitch, I don't have anyone who knew Andrea, and Mitch barely comes here now. I would love to be able to talk to someone who knew her long before I did.' Mel said with a shy smile.

'I would love that too.' Gavin said with a smile. 'I can't wait to get to know you more, in her letters Andrea was always talking about you, I wanna know the person that made her so happy.'

'Here's my card' Mel said taking the little piece of paper off her pocket. 'Please call me.'

'I will.' Gavin said taking her card.

After saying good bye, Gavin left. Mel and Jim watched him for a while before looking at each other.

'You ok?' Jim asked.

'Yeah. It just brings back a lot of memories, that's all.' Mel said as she whipped a tear from her cheek. 'I'm fine, really, it's happy memories, for most.' Mel said with a smile.

'Ok.' Jim said taking her in his arms. He softly kissed the top of her head. 'I'll let you talk to her now.' he said while they walked towards Andrea's grave.

'Thanks.' Mel said grateful.

Mel stopped walking, slightly surprised when she saw Jim stopping in front of Andrea's grave.

'Hey, Andrea... I miss you a lot too. Thanks for watching over Mel.' Jim said with a serious voice. 'Oh, and I bet you had a crush on this guy.' he added with a soft laugh.

'That's very sweet, Jim.' Mel said looking intensely at him.

'She was my friend too, I do miss her.' he replied simply.

'I know.' Mel said.

She wouldn't tell him, but it was also why she would like to talk to someone else about Andrea. She felt kind of guilty talking about her with Jim 'cause he always felt like he had to comfort Mel and she knew he was sad too, but he would never show it 'cause it made Mel even sadder. She wished he would open up about it more often, just like he did.

After a tight hug, Jim walked away to the car.

Mel took a min before looking at the gravestone. She slowly knelt down, ending up putting her knees on the grass, sitting down on her feet.

'Hey Andrea... I know it's been a while, I'm sorry things have been kinda crazy lately.' Mel started. 'I have no idea how it works, how you watch me while you're in the light, but like Jim said, thank you. I feel so much stronger knowing you're somewhere near. I don't know if you're here right now, or if you were just before, so... I met Gavin. I understand why you liked him so much, he seems like a great person.' Mel stood silent for a moment before resting her hand on the gravestone. 'I miss you so much Andrea. Everyday I keep saying to myself 'Andrea would have loved that.' or 'I have to tell Andrea.', like when we learned I was pregnant, I remembered how excited you always were when we talked about it.' Mel put her hand on her stomach and smiled while realizing something. 'Hey... you're the first close person to know. I like this.' Mel said softly with a little smile. 'I just want you to know that even if I'm not coming very often, I'm not forgetting you. I'll never forget you, Andrea,' Mel said while slowly getting up. 'I'll come back soon. Take care.' she finished, trying to hold her tears from falling.

While she stood there a bit longer, just watching the gravestone, a small tear ran down her cheek and before she could whip it away, Melinda felt a slight breeze drying it.

'Thanks.' she said.

Mel smiled, before walking away towards Jim, who was waiting for her leaning against the car door, his arms crossed on his chest.


	4. An Usual End Of Week, Or Not

**Hey everyone! I'm so sorry to post this late, i've had a rough week and couldn't write... but i finally managed to write this. I'm sorry again for the wait and hope you'll like this chap. **

**Thanks everyone for reading and for the fantastic reviews you give me, i love them :) **

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**Chapter 4 ~ An usual end of week, or not... ~**

Back home, Jim still had more than an hour before he had to go to work, so they had time to eat together. Mel was setting the table while Jim was cooking, holding the phone with one hand.

A couple of minutes later, Jim walked in the living room and put his hands on Mel's waist to make her look at him.

'So, my mom is ok for Sunday.' he told her softly.

'Really? That's great.' Mel replied happily, smiling.

'Yep. So... you wanna call your mom now?' Jim asked cautiously.

'I... I'll do that after diner.' Mel answered awkwardly.

She started walking away, trying to avoid the talk, but Jim took her hands in his and looked deeply in her eyes. No question needed.

'Ok... I'm a bit stressed about the whole telling my mom thing.' Mel confessed.

'Why? I thought things were fine between you since she told you the truth about... everything.' Jim said, he was about to list the things Mel learned the past year but he realized it could take a while...

'We are, I mean I'm not mad at her anymore, but we aren't exactly best friends either. I can't pretend I'm totally fine with her lying to me during and about my whole life. Besides, even if she says she never judged me, I can feel that she still doesn't get what I do and I can't take any remark from her anymore.' Mel explained, looking intensely at Jim before looking down.

'Melinda.' he said to make her look up at him, squeezing gently her hands. 'I know it will always be difficult with your mom, but it's not like you're going to say that you need her help with a ghost or anything. You're going to tell her you're pregnant, Mel.' Jim said with a huge, comforting, smile. 'I'm sure -and I bet you know it too, deep down- that she will be happy about this. What mother wouldn't?' Jim finished.

'You're right...' Mel slowly said after staying quiet a moment. 'I worry for no reason, I don't know why...'

'Hey, it's ok to worry Mel. She's your mom, you'll always worry about what she thinks of you. Just enjoy the fact that this time, there's no way she's gonna disapprove the news.' Jim say trying to reassure her.

'Ok, I will.' Mel said with a smile. 'And I will call her now, then.' she added, walking to the kitchen table, where Jim had left the phone.

After a few steps she stopped walking, turned her head towards Jim and started walking again but over Jim this time.

'Thank you.' she said giving him a soft kiss.

'No problem.' he replied with a warm smile.

Mel then walked away again, reaching the kitchen this time. She was about to dial her mom's number when she thought of something.

'Hey, Jim? Is Ellis coming with your mom?' she asked loudly.

'Yes, why?' he replied.

'Well, the other day, my mom mentioned this guy she is dating for a while now. Maybe I could tell her to bring him.' Mel explained.

'That would be nice. Is it serious between them?' Jim asked, walking in the kitchen.

'Apparently. It's the first time she called me to tell me about a man she likes, so it must be serious. I'd be curious to meet him.' Mel said with a mischievous smile.

'Ahh... I see, now it's your turn to check who your mom dates.' Jim said laughing.

'Well... yeah!' Mel admitted laughing too.

'Good.' Jim said with a smile.

He kissed Mel on the cheek before leaving her alone to call Beth.

Mel took the phone and went to sit on the couch waiting for her mom to answer while Jim finished cooking diner.

About three minutes later, Mel came back in the kitchen, a kind of surprised look on her face. Jim noticed it when he turned around as she walked in.

'What?' he asked her.

'Oh, nothing. She said she was very happy of the invitation and was already looking forward Sunday. Although she sounded a bit embarrassed when I asked, she said her... _boyfriend_ will come too.' Mel explained.

'So, why this look?' Jim asked.

'I dunno... there was something weird in her voice... She sounded so... cheerful and... nice, I'm not used to see her like this I guess.' Mel said with a half-smile.

Jim smiled at her. He could only imagine how Mel must feel about all this. She had been through so much with her parents that he always wondered how she could have taken everything in and still be the amazing person she was.

Seeing that Jim wasn't cooking anymore Mel looked towards the dinning room. Everything was ready, set on the table.

'Wow, it smells really good!' she said only realizing the great smell in the house.

'Hungry?' Jim asked with a big smile.

'Yeah. Very, actually.' Mel added smiling back.

So they sat at the table, facing each other. Jim had made a nice soup for Mel, knowing, or better, thinking, that it was the only thing she would eat, but it turned out that the great smell had made Mel hungry for Jim's meal too. In the end, Mel ate half of Jim's chicken and part of his salad. Plus her soup. When Jim took their plate to put them in the dishwasher, he looked at her with wide-opened eyes.

'What? We were hungry!' Mel said defensively, resting a hand on her stomach.

'I can see that.' Jim simply said, before taking the rest of the stuff back to the kitchen. 'Now, I'm the one hungry.' he added.

Mel could only see his back, but she knew Jim had a smile on his face.

'Aww... I'm sorry sweetie.' she said with a faked sorry voice.

She got up and joined him, wrapping her arms around his back. Jim hugged her back and kissed the top of her head.

'You have to go soon?' Mel asked.

'Actually... I'm already late.' Jim said looking at his watch.

'Really? How much?' Mel asked, worried.

'Just a few minutes, don't worry. But I have to go now...' Jim said softly, holding her closer, not wanting to leave her.

'Ok.' Mel said with a little voice, pulling away to look at him. 'When will you be home?'

'Around 4am.' he answered as he had an eight hours shift.

Mel nodded before hugging him again.

'I love you.' she whispered to him.

'I love you too, Mel.' Jim answered softly resting his head on top of hers.

A couple of minutes after Jim left, and even though it was only 8.15pm, Melinda went upstairs as she felt very tired. She smiled as she walked in her bedroom seeing a small bouquet of white roses in the little vase she made in Georgia. The piece of paper placed in it only read '_Sleep Well, xxx_'. Mel took a minute to smell the flowers, before leaving the room to go take a shower, keeping a big, sweet smile on her face.

When she went under the covers after the shower, Mel thought of what had happened today; meeting Gavin, visiting Andrea and feeling her so close, her mom, Jim...

Maybe it was from this long day, or Jim's amazing diner, or her lack of sleep from the previous days, probably a bit of all, but no matter why, Mel fell asleep only twenty minutes after going to bed and slept all through the night. She sounded so peaceful when Jim came back that he didn't really wake her up. He softly went into bed and took her in his arms so she would feel he was back without waking up. He kissed her hair before falling asleep himself.

A couple of days later, Jim was finally done with the night shifts -for now- so, even if he was working a lot, he and Mel could spend more time together, especially night time...

It was now Friday, Jim's first 'free' day and he was supposed to pick Mel up at her store to go see a movie before a late diner. He walked in the store around 7pm, as Mel had told him she would stay a bit longer so she wouldn't have to work too much this weekend.

'Hey girls.' Jim said nicely, noticing that Delia was still here too.

'Hey.' Mel said, walking over him, smiling. 'Yeah, I told her to go home but she wouldn't leave me working alone again.' she added seeing Jim's insisting look on Delia.

'If you don't want me here, you can just say it.' Delia said sounding offended, before laughing with them.

'Thanks for staying, Delia, I appreciate.' Mel said truly thankful. 'Especially since you're going out with Tim tonight.'

'I... I'm going out with Tim... tonight?' Delia said, a shocked look on her face as she turned to looked at Mel.

'You aren't?' Mel said with a confused look to Jim.

'He didn't tell you anything about a diner at a restaurant tonight?' Jim asked Delia.

'No...' she answered, still very confused.

'Ohh... Sorry for saying this, then.' Mel slowly said with a shy smile.

'It's ok.' Delia only said. She shook her head, trying to get focus. 'So that's why you were insisting so much to make me go home?' she asked Mel with a suspicious look. Delia laughed slightly when Mel nodded awkwardly. 'Ok... You two leave, now. I'll close or you're gonna miss the movie.' Delia said in strong but caring voice.

'Thanks, Delia.' they said before leaving the shop, smiling at her as they closed the door.

'Oh man! Maybe it was supposed to be surprise. He's gonna kill me...' Jim said, not knowing if he should laugh or not.

They were in the line, waiting for a couple of minutes to buy the tickets. Mel looked at Jim, holding the laughs as long as she could, which wasn't long since she laughed twenty seconds later. She tried to stop herself as Jim looked at her, surprised.

'I'm sorry... I'm just thinking about Delia's look when I say it.' Mel explained. 'Gosh, if these two don't start acting soon, we'll have to do something about it.' As Jim looked at her with a confused look, Mel tried to be clearer. 'Oh, come on, it's so obvious that they like each other, _a lot,_ if only they could go past their shyness. They're so sweet together!' Mel finished.

'Ah, ok. I see what you mean.' Jim said finally understanding where Mel was going. 'Well, leave them a bit more time, we'll see where this weekend away thing goes. If they stay where they are now, then we'll do something.'

An hour and a half later, they were walking out of the theatre hand in hand when Jim saw an old woman being pushed hardly by a teen and falling heavily on the ground.

'Oh, my god!' Mel said loudly while Jim ran to the woman...


	5. Meeting An Unexpected Neighbor

**Hi guys, new chapter up :). A few things to answer the reviews, they're gonna tell Delia about the baby soon but not till after the diner with Mel and Jim's moms which should be in the chap after this one, or the one after, depends on how imaginative I get... ;) But then after that it shouldn't take long. **

**I can't wait to write about the baby kicking and all either, but this might take a little while...**

**Emma I did write you, 2 pm actually, but I'm still waiting for an answer...**

**Thanks so much for all the wonderful reviews I've had, it really motivates me! Please keep them coming. :)**

_An hour and a half later, they were walking out of the theatre hand in hand when Jim saw an old woman being pushed hardly by a teen and falling heavily on the ground. _

_'Oh, my god!' Mel said loudly while Jim ran to the woman..._

**Chapter 5 ~ Meeting An Unexpected Neighbor ~**

While Mel stood where she was, unable to do anything, Jim quickly reached her and knelt down.

'Ma'am? Are you ok?' he asked professionally.

To his big surprise, he saw the woman looking at him, surprised.

'I sure am, thanks.' she answered in a little but rather confident voice for a woman who sounded in her late seventies, early eighties and had just been pushed that way.

Jim looked at her, astonished. She didn't seem hurt at all and only looked slightly confused.

'You sure you're not hurt? I saw you falling pretty hardly.' Jim said.

'Aw that's fine, don't worry.' the old woman said while getting up.

Jim got up too and looked at her, his eyes wide opened as she was brushing her coat from the street dust.

'I'm sorry to insist, but you really should let someone examine you. You could be hurt without knowing.' Jim started. 'We should call an ambulance or at least give you a ride somewhere where someone can check on you.' he finished with a questioning tone.

'That makes a lot of undefined things,' the woman said laughing slightly. 'You're sweet and I appreciate the concern, but I'm really fine. Don't bother call an ambulance or anything, I don't need it.' she said with a warm confident smile to Jim.

'You sure?' Jim asked. 'Ok, then but promise me you'll call a doctor if you feel anything wrong.' he added after the woman nodded.

'I promise.' she replied, drawing a cross on her chest with a child-like look. 'Thank you, gentleman.' she finished with a smile before walking a few steps away.

Jim walked back to Melinda, who had a look, at least as confused as Jim's.

'You're not doing anything else?' she asked him.

'She doesn't want me too.' Jim said shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders in defeat. 'And she doesn't look hurt at all. Maybe slightly confused for a minute, but just the time to realize what happened, then she sounded pretty fine.' he explained while looking towards the old woman.

She was standing on the sidewalk, looking at her watch every twenty seconds as if she was waiting for someone, someone that was late.

'So we're just gonna let her alone after she's been thrown away like this...' Mel said, worry in her voice.

'Believe me, I hate it as much as you do.' Jim replied. 'Come on, I have to at least try something.' he suddenly said taking Mel's hand and leading them to the woman.

'Excuse me?' he said making her turned towards him. 'I'm sorry to bother you again but we noticed that you're obviously waiting for someone who isn't coming and so I was wondering if you have eaten yet?' Jim asked awkwardly.

'I... haven't, no. But why do you ask me that?' the woman asked him frowning her eyebrows.

'Well, we were just going to have diner and thought maybe you would want to join us.' Melinda said, understanding what Jim wanted to do.

'Ohh... I see. You're trying to find a way to keep an eye on me to see if there's something wrong with me.' the woman said looking at them with a big smile, almost laughing. As neither Mel nor Jim answered she went on. 'I'll take that as a yes. Listen, you don't have to do that, I promised you I'll be careful. Besides you probably have things way more interesting to do on a Friday night, than taking an old lady to a restaurant.' she added with a wink.

'Please ma'am. Look, it's probably selfish but; I'm a paramedic and I'd feel really bad leaving you without more attention after what happened. It's just a diner, I promise we'll leave you alone after.' Jim said holding his hand up.

The woman looked at her watch one more time and let out a long sighed.

'Well I guess she won't come now...' she started. 'I think I can have diner with you.' she finished.

Both Mel and Jim smiled happily, relieved.

'Great.' Mel said with a nice smile as they started to walk.

'So... were are you taking me?' the woman asked.

'Well... actually we hadn't decided that...' Jim confessed, looking at Mel, as they all stopped walking.

'No no no, you already invited me for no reason, so you're the ones choosing.' the woman said as Mel and Jim had turned towards her.

'What do you want?' Jim then asked Mel.

'I dunno... I'm always the one choosing what we eat lately, now that I manage to eat pretty much what I want, why don't you choose?' Mel proposed.

'Like you want.' Jim replied with a smile. 'Ok, then... I heard that a new restaurant, Japanese I think, opened behind the real estate office. What do you think?' he asked, looking at Mel.

'Works for me.' she replied with a smile. 'What about you, Mrs..?'

'Oh, just call me Rosalie.' the woman answered. 'And Japanese is fine with me too.' she added with a smile.

'Let's go then.' Mel stated. 'Oh, by the way, my name is Melinda and my husband's Jim.'

Rosalie smiled and looked at Mel and Jim, studying them for a few seconds.

'You two are gonna make very beautiful kids.' she suddenly said with a big smile.

'Thanks.' Jim replied, smiling back. 'I guess we'll see in a few months.' he added before kissing Mel's cheek softly.

'Aww you're pregnant!' Rosalie said excited. 'That's wonderful. Congratulations!'

'Thanks.' Mel said quite embarrassed. 'But nobody knows yet, so if you could...'

'Oh sure. I moved here just a couple of weeks ago, there's very little chances I know someone you know, but don't worry, I won't tell anyone just in case.' Rosalie finished winking at them.

'So, should we go?' Jim asked.

As they all agreed it was high time to have diner, they walked towards the restaurant.

'So, Rosalie, where do you live now?' Jim asked as they were waiting for their food.

They had all ordered the same thing, so they will have a big wok in the middle of the table and serve themselves with just what and how much they wanted. They were waiting for the waiter to bring everything and so Jim tried to make the conversation 'cause there was only an awkward silence since they had been seated.

'Well I found a nice little house on Hazen Street and-. What?' she asked seeing Mel and Jim looking instantly at each other.

'That's our street too.' Melinda cleared.

'Really? Wow that's strange.' the woman said.

'Yeah. How come we never saw each other before?' Jim asked.

'Well, I barely know anyone and I don't have much to do outside so most of the time I just stay home all day.' Rosalie explained, trying to hide her disappointment. 'Today was an exception, I was supposed to meet an old friend of mine who was in town to visit her family, but she must have forgot, she tends to, lately.' she said with a shy smile.

Mel and Jim didn't really know what to say, so they were kind of relieved when the waiter arrived at their table, avoiding them the awkward comment they would have made.

The rest of diner went fine as they avoid talking about things too personal. They talked about Grandview, Mel's store and the other shops in town.

Soon it was time to go and after a little fight over who was going to pay -Jim had won-, they left the restaurant. Melinda and Rosalie were waiting on the sidewalk while Jim was paying.

'Can we give you a ride somewhere?' Jim asked as he joined them.

'Oh, no you've done enough already.' Rosalie replied. 'I'll take a cab.'

'Oh, don't be silly. We live less than a mile away from each other. Come with us.' Mel said with a begging tone.

'Alright, alright!' Rosalie accepted.

'Thanks for everything you did tonight.' Rosalie said.

She wouldn't admit it in front of people she only knew for a few hours, but it was nice for her to have company and she had spent a great evening.

'No problem. Thanks for letting us watch over you.' Jim said with a wink.

'We had a great night, Rosalie.' Mel said taking a second before saying her name as it felt weird to call her by her first name, but it was the only one she gave us. 'Have a good night.'

'Thanks, you too.' Rosalie said waving at them, as she walked towards her front door. 'I knew it was only a way to check on me... but well, at least I've had a nice diner.' she whispered sadly to herself, while opening her door.

'What a nice lady!' Mel commented while they arrived at their home.

'Yeah, she's pretty unusual...' Jim said trying to find the right word to describe her. 'I hope she'll take care of herself as she promised.'

Jim was checking all the doors and windows, locking each of them. Mel headed upstairs to take a shower before going to bed as it was already a while after 10pm. When Jim got upstairs too, he went directly to the bedroom and stripped to his boxers. He was about to go to bed when he changed his mind and walked to the bathroom.

'Hey... is there room for me?' he asked while opening the door.

'Aww... sure there is.' Mel answered with a suggestive smile as Jim climbed in the shower with her and started to kiss her softly, while Mel put her arms around him.

The next morning, Mel left for work a bit early. She had to go at the same time Jim left 'cause since they went home together last night, her car was still at her store.

When Jim left her at the shop, after a quick kiss, Mel thought she would have the store for herself since Delia usually had breakfast with Ned on Saturdays, which made her arrived around 10.30am. But when she went in the back to put her purse and coat down, she saw Delia already working, putting prices on news items.

'What are you already doing here?' Mel asked with a suspicious look.

'Good morning to you too.' Delia said in a very cheerful voice.

'Yeah, right, morning. So?'

'Wow... Am I in trouble? You had something planned here that I can see?' Delia asked with a smile.

'Oh, you won't escape this. I know perfectly there's something up, here.' Mel said, still having the same suspicious look on her face, pointing a finger at Delia.

'Alright!' Delia said giving, up. 'So... turned out Tim did have a diner planned, a surprise diner.'

'Ah... that's what Jim figured out later.' Mel said.

'Yeah, well, anyway after diner we went to his apartment and well I spent the night there and since Tim had to left for work early this morning and I hadn't enough time to go back home anyway I thought I'd be easier to come here directly.' Delia said speaking very quickly, without taking any breaths.

Mel stared at her for a long minute, taking it in.

'You slept at Tim's.' she asked in a funny voice, still staring at Delia.

'Yeah, but before you start freaking you and me out;' Delia said holding a hand up, 'nothing happened. Well almost nothing, but we didn't... what you think.' Delia added beginning to feel more and more embarrassed.

'Almost nothing hu...?' Melinda said trying to make Delia say more.

'Stop it I won't tell you anything else, you're my boss!' Delia said turning around.

'Oh this is so unfair! I'm only your boss when it suits you.' Melinda complained.

'Yeah, but it always works.' Delia said laughing.

'Hm!' Mel pouted. 'Hey so did he notice that you knew, I mean that it wasn't a surprise anymore.' Mel asked trying to change the subject without really changing it.

'Yeah, he realized pretty quickly.' Delia said.

'Ahh... ouch... poor Jim' Mel thought aloud.

Indeed at the same moment, Jim was just walking in the changing-room, to step right in front of Tim, who looked intensely at him, sounding pretty upset...


	6. Meeting A New Spirit

**Ok i know it's been ages since i've updated, explanations after the chap if you're interested. Hope you enjoy this chap. :)**

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if you don't remember exactly where we left; mel and jim are still getting ready for the diner with their moms (which takes place in the next chap, i promise!), tim and delia just went on a date and tim resents jim for letting delia know about it

_Indeed at the same moment, Jim was just walking in the changing-room, to step right in front of Tim, who looked intensely at him, sounding pretty upset..._

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**Chapter 6 ~ Meeting A New Spirit ~**

'Oh... man...' Jim started, avoiding Tim's look. He slowly looked up before trying to explain. 'Ok, before you say anything, please let me exp-'

'How could you?!' Tim started without letting Jim a chance to finish. 'How could you tell her?' he said in an obviously resentful voice. 'It was supposed to be a surprise!' Tim continued without letting Jim the time to answer.

After a couple more reproaches Jim hold his hands up.

'Ok, enough!' he said in a slightly loud voice, hoping to finally manage to speak. 'Please? Can I have a chance to speak here?' he asked in a tone that showed Tim he was being kind of childish.

Tim didn't answer but he hadn't interrupt Jim and he didn't say anything either. He kept an angry look on his face as Jim, seeing he was apparently free to speak, tried to explain.

'First of all, you never said it was a surprise! How could I know?' Jim started defending himself. 'Second, you told me that a while ago, you knew perfectly I was gonna see Mel and you also know how she always asks about you and Delia, I had no reason to hide it to her that you had a date! If you had told me it was a surprise I wouldn't have told her!' Jim pointed.

'Really? You wouldn't have told Melinda?' Tim asked with a sarcastic look.

Jim thought a moment.

'Ok, maybe I would have told Mel anyway.' he admitted. He knew Mel would have probably noticed he was hiding something if she had asked him about Tim. And it was highly probable that Jim would have ended telling her. 'But that's not the point, she wouldn't have told Delia if she knew it was a surprise. Maybe she would have teased her a little but she wouldn't have told her.' Jim ended.

Tim looked at Jim for a moment, staying quiet.

'Oh, come on! I'm sorry I blew it, but I don't get why you're so upset! Did the evening went wrong?' Jim asked finally, getting tired of Tim's behavior.

'No... the evening went fine.' Tim finally admitted.

'Then why are you so mad at me?' Jim asked confused.

'It's just... I thought I could tell you stuff, that you would keep for yourself for once. You know, 'guy talks'.' Tim confessed.

'Okay... but since when 'I'm taking Delia to a restaurant Friday night.' is a confidential 'guy talk'?' Jim asked, making fun of Tim.

'All right, I should have told you it was a surprise, I get it!' Tim said, laughing at himself. 'I'll make myself clearer the next time.'

'So there's gonna be a next time. That's good. I bet it went better than fine then...' Jim teased.

Tim looked at Jim, with half a smile and sighed slightly while shaking his head.

'Ok, but you realize this is a 'guy talk', you can't tell Melinda about that.' he finally said, although both of them figured Mel already knew about that, before he started telling Jim about his evening with Delia.

Later this afternoon, Melinda was waiting impatiently for Jim to arrive. They couldn't see each other for lunch 'cause he had a call. Now Jim was supposed to come get her when he was off so they could go to the grocery shop together, buy all they needed for the diner with their moms the day after.

It was about 10 to 4pm -Jim should be off at 4- when Mel heard some noise in the basement. She looked at her watches, and sighed while getting up and making her way to the shop basement.

Just a couple of minutes later, the doorbell rang as someone entered the store. Delia, who had her head and shoulders pretty deeply lost in the full-of-antique-clothes wardrobe, couldn't see who it was.

'I'll be with you in a minute!' she said in a nice welcoming tone though.

'It's only me, Delia.' she heard Jim say.

'Oh, hey. Er... I think Melinda's in the back.' Delia said still trying to find her way out of the wardrobe.

'Ok, thanks.' Jim said, laughing slightly at Delia's trouble. 'Need help?'

'Thanks, you're sweet, but I should be fine.' Delia said laughing slightly.

So Jim made his way towards the back room, to see that it was empty.

'You sure she's here?' Jim asked while walking back in the front room.

'Yeah, she's seating down there for almost half an hour. She said she was waiting for you, she sure didn't want to miss you.' Delia told him with a smile as she was finally able to get her head out of the wardrobe.

'Well, she isn't anymore.' Jim stated.

'Oh... well she didn't come in here so she must be downstairs. Weird... she wouldn't go down there knowing you'll be here soon. Unless...' Delia slowly said as they both realized what it meant.

'Great...' Jim sighed. 'What?' he added as Delia looked intensely at him.

'Well it's not like it's a surprise for you, she deals with ghosts all the time.' Delia stated with a shy smile.

'Yeah, I know, it's just... we have our moms for diner tomorrow night. I wished we could have a quiet evening, that's all.' Jim explained.

'Oh... I see.' Delia said. 'Is that why she's been acting weird lately? I know she's always stressed about seeing her mom, even now.'

'Yeah. Yeah she's pretty worried, as usual.' Jim half-lied.

Yes Melinda was worried but it was mostly 'cause of what she had to tell her mom, more than the simple fact that her mom was visiting. Praying that, if Melinda really was with a ghost, it would be an easy one, Jim made his way to the back room again and waited, trying to hear any sound that might come from the basement.

After a couple of minutes, Jim heard loud noises followed by a 'Crap!'. He quickly got up from the chair he was seated in and made his way towards the basement stairs.

He was about to take the first steps when he saw Melinda at the bottom of the stairs, making her way up, apparently fine.

'Hey, you ok?' he asked anyway.

'Jim! How long have you been there?' Mel asked, practically running to reach him.

'Not long, but long enough to figure out what you were doing down there and hear the noises.' Jim said. 'Are you alright?' he asked hoping to have an answer this time.

'Oh, the noise, it was nothing; I tripped over a box and tried to hold onto some unstable shelf which made the stuff that was on it fell down...' she explained with a light smile. 'I might ask you to come fix the shelves, by the way, 'cause I can't promise I won't trip again or find some other way to embarrass myself like this.' she added with a laugh.

Jim smiled as he pulled her in his arms as soon as she reached the back room floor.

'I'm glad you're ok.' he admitted with a sigh. 'So... this ghost,' he started, looking seriously at her as they pulled away, 'easy one or making-diner-with-our-moms-even-more-stressing-for-you one?' he finished with a small smile.

She smiled back at him, loving the fact that he thought about the consequences for her first instead of thinking about what his mom would think about another 'crazy acting' from Mel while she's visiting her son.

'Definitely an easy one. He's an elderly man, very nice, who was searching for some jewelry. And apparently I bought it from his family, he was so happy when he saw it. A beautiful necklace, he said he was lead to it.' Mel explained with a smile. 'Gorgeous piece I have to say; a silver chain with a red heart shaped pendant. He said it should have been a gift for his special friend, but he never got the chance to give it to her. The thing is, he told me his name, but not his friend's name so I'm gonna have to wait and see if he comes back to me or search on the Internet. But we should be good tomorrow, even if he comes back then, he won't bother me.' Mel finished.

'Good.' Jim simply said, relieved that this ghost won't take to much out of Melinda.

By now, Melinda had gathered her stuff and was ready to go. They both said their goodbyes to Delia, who was getting ready to go too, Melinda refusing to let her close up again. Delia had fought Melinda by principle but she was glad her boss forced her to go home, where she would enjoy a quiet evening, Ned going out this night.

Mel and Jim headed to their respective cars and drove home separately since they had to take the two cars home. They would go to the grocery store with only one car. At home, Mel dropped her laptop and unnecessary items while Jim dropped his paramedic bag.

The grocery shopping took about an hour and since it was pretty late already they decided to pick up their diner from a little restaurant who proposed 'take-away'.

'So what time are they supposed to be there again?' Jim asked as they were settling the groceries in the kitchen.

'Around 7pm.' Mel answered while putting their food in the oven. She had been the one calling everyone to confirm the date and time. 'Why?' she asked turning to face Jim.

'Just so I can plan the cooking. Know when to start.' Jim answered looking at her.

Mel nodded slightly, before taking some vegetables to put in the fridge.

'Are you ok finishing this?' Mel asked, motioning to the groceries left on the table.

'Sure. You okay?' Jim asked, worry already showing in his voice.

'Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I just thought I'd do some research on my guy to have something, so I can deal with him more quickly.' she started to explain.

'Your guy?' Jim asked in a funny voice, a little smile on the corner of his lips.

'Yeah, you know, my hot secret lover. Oh shoot! I wasn't supposed to tell you that!' Mel said entering Jim's game. She laughed at Jim's unsuccessful attempt to sound shocked and offended before continuing her serious explanation; 'So, my old guy, Adrian Merrick, I just want to show him I'm taking care of it, it would help reassure him, then he could leave faster if he shows up tomorrow.' Mel explained.

'Tomorrow night?'

'Tomorrow. You have a Sunday off, the weather's supposed to be fine and I plan to spend all day with you. Only you. Well except for diner.' Mel added with a smile. Then her sweet smile turned in a still sweet but slightly teasing one as she added; 'Maybe we could... I dunno... sleep in and spend the rest of the morning in bed...' she whispered, resting her hands on his chest.

'You better not be sick 'cause there's no way I'm letting go of what you're suggesting...' Jim said in the same tone, as he put his hands on the sides of Mel's face.

'I hope I won't be, too...' Mel replied, knowing perfectly that Jim didn't really mean what he said, but truly wishing he wouldn't _have_ to let go of her suggestion.

Mel pressed her hands harder on his chest as she put herself on tiptoe to kiss him softly. Jim kissed her back, sliding one of his hand behind her neck.

They pulled away, smiling at each other, before Melinda walked in the living room, grabbing her laptop and sitting down on the couch, as Jim gladly took care of the groceries. Not that he enjoyed this that much, but he was glad to see Mel standing comfortably on the couch, in her casual relaxed position -feet under her body, back resting against the cushions, her laptop settled on the armchair. Her left arm, leaning against the couch, was up to her face and playing with a curl of her hair, while her right arm and hand was working on the keyboard and touch pad.

The phone book search took only a few minutes, leaving her with an address and a phone number. 'Hope I won't have to use this.' Mel thought, writing down the information on the note pad she found sitting on the coffee table. She hoped the man would come back to her to give her the informations she needed so she wouldn't have to track him and his friend down.

She was know searching information on the old man's death with her usual helper; Penthius. It was more out of curiosity than real need since the man knew what he needed from her and he had apparently made his peace with his dead, since he appeared relaxed and all Melinda could feel from him, was relief and joy to finally reach his goal.

When Jim appeared behind her, Melinda still had no clue about the man's death. She let out a sigh before smiling as she saw Jim had brought everything they needed to eat.

'I could have went in the kitchen, you know.' she told him with a smile. 'But thanks.' she added kissing him softly on the cheek.

'I thought it could be fun to eat here.' Jim explained while settling himself on the couch beside her, after grabbing some food from the coffee table. 'Found anything interesting?' he asked watching the laptop screen.

'His address and phone number, but nothing on his death.' Mel answered. 'What are we watching?' she asked seeing him take the TV remote.

'Whatever you want.' Jim told her, leaning down to kiss her lips softly.

Melinda closed her laptop happily, quickly forgetting her ghost and cuddled against Jim to enjoy a quiet evening with him, as she had a feeling the next one would not be that quiet...

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**Hope you enjoyed reading this. I wanna say i'm really sorry for this really long wait! Life has been kinda, well really crazy and i couldn't bring myself to write plus i've been sick and more anyway i won't ramble about it you probably don't wanna hear about that... **

**I hope you'll keep reading my story anyway, i'll do my best from now on to update regularly and the best way for me to write is to know what you think so please leave a review. :)**


	7. The Diner

**Notes are at the end, please read them. **

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**Chapter 7 ~ The Diner ~**

Sunday morning. Jim had just woken up, thinking of what was to come today. He watched Mel sleeping for a moment. Her head was resting on his shoulder, she was lying on her back close to him. Careful not to wake her, Jim softly put his left hand on Mel's flat stomach, then began rubbing it, ever so softly, while his eyes were watching from his hand to her head adoringly.

'Hey...' Mel whispered softly but still surprising Jim who took his hand away from her stomach.

'Hi... Morning.' Jim whispered back, smiling softly. 'Slept well?'

Melinde nodded smiling back at him. After a few quiet seconds, she took Jim's wrist and put his hand back on her stomach. As she was now awake, Jim slid his hand under her shirt to feel her skin, rubbing her stomach just a bit more strongly than he did when she was asleep.

Mel slowly repositioned herself on the crook of Jim's elbow so she could look at him better, which made Jim turn on his side, him too, so he could look at her better.

Jim looked down at her stomach; 'It feels different.' he stated softly,

Mel put her right hand on Jim's left one, now resting just above her bellybutton.

'It does.' she replied smiling too. 'How does it feel for you?' she asked curiously.

'Weird...' Jim said after a moment. 'Good weird, definitely good weird.' he added quickly seeing Mel frowning. 'Just now, when I touch your belly, I feel something, I can tell there's something in here.' Jim tried to explain looking down again.

'I know what you mean. I can feel it too.' Mel replied pressing their hands a little more.

She then moved her own so they were each on one side of her bellybutton, one above one under, and they could both feel like there was a little ball inside.

'How does it feel from the inside?' Jim asked. 'Must be even weirder for you.'

'Yeah, it's definitely weird, a good weird too and it's... special. I can't really describe how it feels but I can say that it's an amazing feeling.' Mel explained now with a huge smile on her face, putting her hand back on top of Jim's. 'Knowing that our baby is right here, slowly growing... And I'm pretty I'll have a hard time when it'll happen but I can't wait for it to show.' Mel finished looking up at Jim, still a big smile on her face.

'Me neither.' Jim said smiling back. 'I already know it'll make you even more beautiful.' he added before leaning down to kiss Mel softly.

Mel kissed him back and when they pulled away, she looked intensely at him. 'You really mean that or you're trying to see if I forgot what I proposed yesterday...?' she finally asked.

'I really mean it.' Jim answered seriously. 'But I'm really glad you haven't forgotten.' he added with a little smile.

'Glad you haven't either...' Mel stated before cupping Jim's cheek in her hands, making him lean down so she could kiss him properly while Jim slowly moved his hand up her chest.

When they woke up for the second time, it was almost time for lunch, but Melinda's stomach wasn't up for lunch so they had breakfast instead. After eating Jim's pancakes, they still had a lot of time before they needed to start setting everything up for the diner so they decided to go to the nearby forest and take a walk to enjoy the nice, warm weather.

'Oh by the way, I never asked you; how did it go with Tim?' Mel asked as they just got out of the car.

'Ahh... yeah. Well not that well at first, but then he let me talk and explained and apologize and... well he ended up telling me how the evening went so I guess we're ok now.' he answered, laughing. 'But I am not authorized to discuss what he told me with you.' he added, faking a serious-important-discussion-tone.

'Ohh I see.' Mel said trying not to laugh. She didn't need him to explain why Tim was mad, she often talked with Delia about the fact that she and Jim told each other everything and how Tim found that somehow disturbing.

'I know we said we wanted to wait before telling people about the baby but, when will you tell Delia?' Jim asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

'Pretty soon I think. After we've told our moms I think we can start telling people.' Mel answered. 'Why?'

'Well she's always taken care of you but she seems very preoccupied about you lately. You always say she keeps asking you how you feel and didn't feel convinced after you told her you're fine and yesterday she asked me if it was tonight's diner that made you act all weird. I think she's really worried about you so maybe you should tell her soon.' Jim explained.

'Yeah I don't want her to be mad that I made her worried for no reason or sad because I waited too long to tell her. She's my closest friend now. After you.' she added with a soft smile. But Jim knew she really meant after him _and_ Andrea. And Andrea already knew. 'You're right, I'll tell her tomorrow.'

They kept walking for an other moment, holding each other's hand. Then Melinda lead them to a wooden bench where they both sat. She didn't feel dizzy or anything, she just needed to sit down and rest a minute. She had no idea a simple walk would tired her that much, but maybe it was also because of their morning's activities.

As they stood there, Jim put his arms around Mel's shoulders, holding her close, as she rested her head against him.

'There's something we haven't talked about, well we still need to talk about a million stuff but I think this is important.' Mel started, holding her head up so she could look at him. She went on as he nodded at her. 'How should we call our baby? I don't mean talk about baby names, well not yet at least, but till we've decided on names or on if we wanna know what it is, 'cause I don't like calling our baby a 'it'.' Mel finished.

'I don't like this either.' Jim said. 'Well I guess we'll have to use the 'him or her' and 'he or she' lines but other than that I don't really know...'

'Well at least we agree on not calling him or her _it_.' Mel said with a little smile before resting her head on Jim's shoulder again.

'Oh... I might have an idea.' Jim said a few seconds later. 'What was your favorite cartoon or cartoon character when you were little?' he asked.

Melinda looked up at him, frowning, before understanding what he was trying to do. 'Hm... I guess it would be Babar.' Mel said shyly. 'But there's no way we'll call our baby Babar, even if it's only during the pregnancy.' Mel said a bit more serious.

'Yeah that might be too weird.' Jim agreed, nodding.

'What about you?' Mel asked.

'I remember spending hours watching this cartoon with Dan, I don't even know how it was called but it was the adventures of a ferret living in the forest.' Jim said, almost whispering as he remembered old memories. 'We loved this show.'

'A ferret... Did he had a name?' Mel asked softly, noticing Jim's behavior.

'Nope... or I don't remember it. I don't even think we knew if it was a male or a female.

'Well then it'll be just 'ferret'.' Mel said.

'Seriously? You wanna call our baby _ferret_?' Jim asked slightly laughing.

'Yeah, that could be fun. I mean it's just till we find names we like for both genders or find something else. It'll be more original than calling him or her _baby._' Mel explained, smiling.

'You're right it could be fun.' Jim said, liking the idea already, besides it seemed to make Mel happy and it would remember him of Dan in a way. 'Hey there little ferret, can't wait to meet you.' Jim then joked, leaning down so he was talking to Mel's stomach.

Mel started to laugh, putting a hand on her stomach. 'See? It's fun.' she said as Jim started laughing with her.

About forty minutes later, they were back home and Jim had started to make diner. Melinda, conscious about her cooking skills preferred to take care about dressing the table and making sure everything in the house was in order.

'Er... Mel? We might have a little problem.' Jim said cautiously, walking over her.

'Oh? What kind of problem?' Mel asked, getting worried, as she put the framed photo she was holding back on the shelf she was dusting.

'Nothing too serious but... we forgot to buy bread.' Jim said.

'Oh no! Your mom and Ellis love bread! And we need some anyway... Dam.. And of course Sunday afternoon, the grocery store is closed now...'

'Maybe we could just borrow some. I'll go ask one of our neighbor.' Jim said, putting his hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her down. She didn't need extra stress, she was tensed enough already.

'You have to finish diner, I guess. I'll go ask.' Mel told him, offering a small smile.

'Ok. Just don't take too long, you still have to get ready and you know that can take a while.' Jim said with a wink.

'Aha! It's 5pm I know I can be long but I don't need two whole hours to get ready.' she replied smacking his arm playfully, before kissing his cheek and leaving the house.

When she stepped outside, Mel thought that instead of go asking her next door neighbor she could walk a few feet more and go to their new acquaintance.

As she got closer to the house; she noticed the woman standing on her porch, working on some flowers.

'Melinda? What a nice surprise!' Rosalie said, kind of confused but with a big smile when she saw Mel approaching.

'Hi, Rosalie. How are you today?' Mel asked softly.

'I'm great, dear. Still worried about me?' the old woman sighed.

'Nope, well yes but you're obviously doing very well so I think I can stop now.' Mel confessed, smiling. 'But, actually, there's a purpose to my visit, I may need a favor.' she added shyly.

'Oh...?' was all Rosalie could say, clearly confused.

'I'm sorry. I shouldn't have came here, you probably don't wanna be bothered. I... Sorry.' Melinda apologized, turning to go away.

'No! Nonono!' Rosalie quickly said, making Mel frown and turn towards her. Rosalie took the few steps down the porch to reach Mel. 'I'm just... I'm surprised, but I'm also very happy that you thought about coming to me.' she admitted.

'Oh... but why?' Mel said, the one confused now.

'Why would a nice young woman like you would want anything to do with an old lady like me? I thought you just wanted to have a clear conscience, just making sure the hurt woman would be fine.' Rosalie said in a rather sad voice, almost ashamed.

'We weren't faking it, Rosalie. Or making ourselves better by checking on you, maybe reassuring ourselves but we sure weren't lying when we said we were glad to meet you.' Mel explained after they were seated on the rocking chairs standing under the porch.

'I can see that and I believe you now, but I'm just a lonely old woman, I didn't want to have hopes that would -in my mind- never come true.' Rosalie said sighing as Mel took her hand softly. 'You really are a nice person, Melinda.' she added smiling at her.

Mel smiled back, keeping Rosalie's hand in hers. They were talking about pretty much everything and anything for about twenty minutes when the conversation started on kids.

'So how far along are you?' Rosalie asked.

'Nine weeks and a few days.' Mel answered, softly putting her hand on her still flat stomach. 'Do you have children?'

'I did.' Rosalie said, in a voice way smaller than what it was before.

'Oh I'm so sorry.' quickly said Melinda, feeling bad already.

'Oh don't be, you couldn't know.' Rosalie replied managing a little smile. 'I'm lucky though, she gave me a grandson before going.'

Mel could see her expression changing as she mentioned her grandson. She was clearly proud of him.

'What's his name?' Mel asked with a small smile.

'Dany, he's almost five and he's a great kid.' she answered softly.

'Do you see him often?' Mel asked again.

'Not as much as I wished.' Rosalie sighed sounding sad again.

Mel could see that there was something going on here that Rosalie didn't like but she thought she shouldn't push her into talking about it since it was obviously affecting her a lot. She would tell Mel later, if she wanted to.

'Not that I don't appreciate talking with you, because I really do, but didn't you say you needed something?' Rosalie asked, her usual happy tone back.

'Oh my god you're right! I totally forgot.' Mel said, her eyes widening. 'I really forgot.'

'Don't worry, it happens to everyone.' Rosalie said laughing. 'So what was that favor?'

'No that's the thing! I forgot what I needed.' Mel replied quickly getting up.

'Oh. Wow is it that important?' Rosalie asked, seeing Mel so worried.

'Yes. No I don't think it was something very important but we have an important dinner in less than two hours and, oh my god! I've been gone half an hour, Jim must be worried already.' Mel said, now really freaking out.

'Hey calm down. You'll just call him from here and ask what you need, ok?' Rosalie said, putting her hands on Mel's shoulder to calm her.

'You're right. It's nothing, Jim's the one cooking anyway, I just have to get ready and... I'm sorry, I'm overreacting.' Mel sighed, relaxing as quickly as she had panicked.

'Don't worry.' Rosalie laughed. 'And if I can give you a piece of advice, you should get used to it.' she added with an understanding smile.

'Oh... yeah, I see.' Mel said, smiling shyly, rubbing her stomach again.

'Come on, let's get inside.' Rosalie said softly.

She opened her front door and closed it after Melinda walked in. Her house was simply decorated, with good taste unlike most of the older people. Mel noticed a few pictures of a woman in her thirties, most of the time holding a little boy in her arms, not older than three years old. For sure Dany with his Mom, when she was still alive. Mel then saw a lot of pictures of the little boy alone, a bit older, but she couldn't find any pictures of a possible Dad. That had probably to do with Rosalie's trouble to talk earlier, but now wasn't the time to ask about this, Mel thought again.

'Here, call Jim.' Rosalie said, handing Mel a phone, pulling her out of her thoughts.

'Thank you.' Mel said already dialing their home's number.

After only a ring tone Jim picked up. '_Mel?'_'

'Yeah, it's me. I'm so sorry, Jim.' Mel started.

'_What's wrong? Are you ok?_ '

'I'm fine, don't worry I just... lost track of time, and a part of my memory too obviously.' Mel explained, frowning even though Jim couldn't see her, making Rosalie, who stood in her kitchen, laugh.

'_Ohh... What do you mean? _' Mel could tell he was confused.

'I forgot why I came here for...' Mel said, embarrassed.

She heard Jim laugh, before coughing to get his neutral voice back.

'_And that's why you've been gone for half an hour? You were trying to recall what you needed?_ ' Mel heard he was trying to hold his laughter.

'Noo. We were talking and I forgot why I came here in the first place and then I realized I couldn't remember at all.' Mel explained.

'_Well at least you're fine. We just need some bread for diner tonight. You know with our moms and the big news we have to tell them? _' Jim teased.

'Yeah, I remember that, thank you very much.' Mel said smiling and shaking her head at the same time. 'Ok then, see you in a minute, thanks Jim.' she finished before hanging up.

'So?' Rosalie asked as Mel reached her.

'Please tell me you have some bread.' Mel begged and Rosalie laughed as she nodded.

'Mel? Are you ready?' Jim asked as the doorbell rang.

Everything was ready for the diner and Jim was now only waiting for their guests to arrive and for Melinda to be ready. And according to the doorbell, Mel was now the only one Jim was waiting for. He walked towards the front door but was looking upstairs, hoping to see her getting out of the bedroom.

'Me-'

'I'm here.' Mel said cutting him off.

She slowly made her down the stairs, holding the ramp.

'You're here. And you're... wow!' Jim let out, staring at her.

Mel was wearing a navy blue dress showing just enough of everything, wearing light make-up that didn't hide her natural beauty and she had let her hair down, curling on her shoulders.

'You look amazing.' Jim said sincerely, pride in his eyes as he hold his hand to her.

'Thank you.' Melinda said shyly, taking his hand.

She stood at the bottom of the stairs, standing on the last steps so she was at eye level with Jim. They stared at each other a few seconds before both turning their heads to the door as the doorbell rang again.

'Ow I almost forgot about them.' Jim said slightly laughing. 'Are you ready?'' he asked more seriously.

Mel only nodded, taking a deep breath. 'I'm ready.'

Jim leaned over and softly kissed Mel's forehead as she closed her eyes, breathing his unique comforting scent.

Keeping her hand in his, Jim reached the door and opened it; reveling their four guests waiting.

'Hey you all came together?' Jim joked.

'Melinda! Jim!' Faith said loudly, hugging them tightly. 'We were wondering what was going on in here.'

'I'm the guilty one, sorry.' Mel confessed with a smile. 'I was running a bit late. Hi, Mom.' she greeted, as Beth walked inside too.

'Hi, Melinda.' she replied in a warm voice, hugging her daughter. 'Jim.' she added before taking him in her arms too.

Jim lead his mom and Beth in the living room while Mel turned towards Ellis and Jake, her mom's 'special friend'.

'We won't serve diner out there, you know?' Mel said laughing. 'Come on, get in.'

'Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't introduce you.' Beth said, walking back in the entrance. 'Jake, this is my daughter; Melinda and her husband; Jim. This is Jake, my friend.' Beth said a little awkwardly while they all greeted each other. 'And outside you've met Faith and Ellis, Jim's mom and her friend.' Beth finished.

They all walked in the living room, taking place on the couch or armchairs. Jim served them drinks, Faith making a face as Jim handed Mel a simple glass of water. They started talking, trying to get to know each other before Jim's pager went off. He excused himself, quickly kissing Mel on the cheek, letting go of her hand and went in the kitchen, taking the phone on his way. The others kept talking, except Melinda who wasn't paying much attention to the conversation as she tried to know what was going on.

'Mel? Can I talk to you for a second?' Jim asked as he walked out of the kitchen, putting the phone back down.

'What's going on?' Mel asked when they entered the kitchen together.

'That was Bobby.' Jim started.

'Please, don't tell me you have to go. I can't do all this without you.' Mel said, getting worried already.

'I don't have to go... yet. Maybe I won't need to go at all. There was a pretty bad car accident, multiple cars involved lots of traumas, almost all the guys had to go there, so they needed someone to cover in case another big trouble comes up. I'm on call, that's all.' Jim concluded.

'Ok but you could still be called?'

'Yes, I'm sorry Mel, but I couldn't say no. Don't worry there's very little chances for me to be called and even if I am, I know you'll be fine, even if your mom isn't supportive and all, you know my mom will.' Jim said, taking her in his arms, holding her tightly. 'We should tell them early, just in case.' Jim added, rubbing her back softly.

'How about just before we start eating?' Mel proposed.

'Sounds good.' Jim said softly, kissing the top of Mel's head.

'Is everything fine here? Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt.' Faith said, as Mel and Jim pulled away quickly.

'It's ok, Mom.' Jim said with a little smile, keeping one of Mel's hand in his.

'Ok, kids, I may have been wrong the first time, but I'm pretty sure of myself now.' Faith said, looking intensely at the two of them.

'Sorry?' Mel asked, even though she had a good idea of what Faith was talking about.

She and Jim looked at each other briefly before looking at Faith.

'Oh come on! How far along?' Faith said almost laughing.

'Ok..., a bit more than nine weeks. But you can't talk about it, we made all this so we could tell everyone at the same time.' Mel let out.

Faith stood silent for a few seconds as a huge smiled appeared on her face. 'You really are? You're pregnant?! Oh my... congratulations!' she said in a loud whisper trying not to let the others overhear.

She was about to hug them when Beth called for them from the living room.

'We'll talk more about it later then.' Faith said, still smiling widely.

'Ok, you both need to drop the Clancy's smile or they will definitely know something is up.' Mel said looking quickly from Jim to his mom as they tried to put on a serious face.

'Hey, I'm sorry, my fault this time.' Jim said as they all sat down. 'I'm sorry to say that it was work, telling me I was on call tonight, so I'm sorry if I have to leave in the middle of the evening.' Jim explained.

'Oh, that's too bad. I hope you won't be called.' Beth said sincerely, obviously at ease and enjoying her evening, so far.

They all started talking to each other for a few more minutes before Jim got up to check on the food. He came back in the living room a minute later.

'Diner's ready to be served.' he announced, looking intensely at Mel.

'Ok well, let's eat.' she said, starting getting up. 'But before we go at the table, there's something we have to tell you.' she added, reaching Jim as the guests finished their drinks. They then looked at the couple curiously -excited and accomplice in Faith's case- waiting for them to talk.

Jim wrapped his arm around Mel's waist as they looked at each other, Mel comforted by Jim's serene smile.

'So what's the big news?' Beth asked with a curious look, getting impatient.

'Melinda is... pregnant. We're having a baby.' Jim announced proudly, tightening his hold around Mel.

'You're? Ohh... Wow that's wonderful.' Beth managed to say as the surprise changed in joy. 'Congratulations!' she said happily, hugging them.

'Thanks Mom.' Mel said just when Jim said; 'Thanks Beth.'

'I'm so happy for you, kids! Congratulations!' Faith then said, able to hug them this time as Mel and Jim thanked her.

It was then Ellis and Jake's turn to congratulate them, Jake a bit more formally as they weren't that close yet, before they sat down around the dinning room table, Mel and Jim answering their mom's questions about the pregnancy, about their plans, ...

The diner was going very well until desert. Just when Jim put the homemade chocolate cake on the table, his pager went off again.

'Crap.' he cursed as he read '911' on the small screen. 'I'm really sorry but it looks like I have to go.' Jim sighed, looking sadly at Mel.

He waved at their guests saying he should be back soon since he wasn't going in for a shift, only for one call, and walked to the door grabbing his paramedic bag, followed by Melinda.

'Will you be ok?' he asked her at the door.

'I think I will, yeah. Everything is going fine so far, so please, keep it this way, ok? Be careful.' Mel said seriously.

'I always am.' Jim replied softly.

'Love you.' Mel whispered.

'I love you too.' he whispered back, kissing her gently.

Right when she closed the door, Mel felt a hand on her shoulder and quickly turned to see her Mom standing in front of her.

'Can I talk to you, Melinda?' she asked in a too serious for Melinda to like tone.

'Er.. sure but I have guests.' Melinda said kind of trying to avoid this.

Beth walked in the dinning room, where Faith and the men were talking about their childhood.

'Excuse me? Would you mind me stealing my daughter for a few minutes?' Beth asked softly.

'No, not at all.' Faith answered as the men nodded.

Beth turned towards Mel, smiling. Melinda understood and motioned the kitchen door, leading outside. They walked out of the house and stood on the steps.

'Okay... that can't be good... Not good at all...' Mel sadly thought, avoiding her mother's look.

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Hope you enjoyed. :)

Notes: ok so first I wanna apologize about posting that late, I really wanted to do it earlier but things have been kinda crazy again and i'm at my bro's atm and he's on the computer as much as I when i'm home so I can't come a lot, plus this is an important chap for me and I wanted to do it right. I hope I did. ;)

now on the next chap i really dunno when i'll be able to write so same for posting it cause as soon as i come back home i have the oral part of the contest on wednesday and the same day my little sis is going to the hospital to have a surgery and she'll stay there for at least 2 weeks if everything goes well so i'll prob be with her as much as i can, and then in the beginning of july i have to go to the hospital too to make some tests but nothing to do with Mels i'll just stay there a day and at about the same time my future 'little bro' will arrive home and it's gonna be a challenge for my family for all kinds of reasons, and finally i have the second oral for another contest to do so untill the middle of july i'm gonna be very busy...  
it doesn't mean i won't update till then but maybe not as quickly as i would want to... so i apologize in advance if you have to wait again for the next chap... I really haven't been good at updating lately, uh?

**Please review. **


	8. The End Of Diner

**Hey everyone :) First I wanna apologize for this way too long wait... I'm really sorry but my summer job took all my time I had a crazy schedule and was really exhausted and before that my little sis had surgery so i was pretty busy too...  
Anyways, from now on I'll try to update more often but i can't promise anything (tired of breaking my promises) 'cause I'm starting nurse school tomorrow and i dunno my schedule yet, plus I'm gonna try to work a few evenings per weeks so I can't say for sure when I'll have time to write. **

**You may have to reread the last chaps to know where i left 'cause it's been really long. **

**Hope you enjoy the story thanks for reading and thanks to the ones who stick with me, it means a lot. :)**

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_Beth turned towards Mel, smiling. Melinda understood and motioned the kitchen door, leading outside. They walked out of the house and stood on the steps._

_'Okay... that can't be good... Not good at all...' Mel sadly thought, avoiding her mother's look._

**Chapter 8 ~ The End Of Dinner ~**

'So...' Mel said anxiously as Beth stood there, silent.

'So... a baby?' Beth started softly. 'Are you sure about that.' she asked.

Melinda studied her mother for a moment, searching for any sign of what she could mean by that. As she couldn't read anything, she had to ask out loud.

'What do you mean?' she asked, a bit reproachfully.

'Don't get me wrong, I'm happy about this, I really am. I mean, my first grandchild; it's pretty amazing.' Beth said.

Mel heard and saw her mom's honesty so she relaxed a little and let her talk.

'But... are you ready for this?' Beth added.

'Well, I'm pretty much terrified about becoming a Mom.' Mel admitted. 'I feel like I'm gonna do everything wrong, but I'm also pretty sure that it's what any woman becoming a mother for the first time feel!' Mel explained sincerely.

'The thing is... you're not any other woman, Melinda.'

'Ah! So that's what it's all about. You think it's a mistake for me to have kids because they might have the gift.' Mel realized. She shook her head in disbelief. 'Well, first of all, if you think anything you can say will make me change my mind about having this baby, we can stop this conversation right now.' As Beth shook her head no, Mel went on. 'Second, you're forgetting a little but very important thing; for you I'm 'taking a risk' to give the gift to my kids. But for me, I'm taking a chance! And that's the real difference. What we can do and what _I_ am doing is truly a gift. Yes, it's sometimes hard for me and it will be for my kids too. I know we'll face difficult times, but I also know that we'll get through it.'

Mel took a moment to breath. She didn't realize how fast she had been speaking.

Beth took that chance. 'What about your kids, Melinda? Don't you remember how miserable you were?'

Mel shook her head with a bitter smile. 'Whose fault was it, Mom? Our kids, they won't be judged, they'll be loved more than anything else and they'll have two parents to teach them, explain them and help them accept themselves as they are. They'll know what amazing things they'll be able to do, how much they'll be able to help people. We'll do all that happily, when you couldn't, no...; wouldn't take two minutes to answer any of my questions about it.'

'How can you be so sure? What tells you that Jim isn't gonna run? It happens more often that we know and with your pro-, with your 'ability' there's more... risks.' Beth pointed.

'Well, I guess you definitely don't know Jim at all. He's different! Okay, it's probably what everyone says, but it's true! I trust him more than I ever trusted anyone, I know he'd never do that. He's the one who kept saying we should have a baby, even with -as you wanted to say- my _problem. _Sometimes I believe he likes my gift more than I do.'

'Yeah, well that's what To-, what they all say.' Beth said, immediately regretting the words as Melinda stared at her with wide opened eyes.

'Tom?! How dare you? How can you compare them, or even suggest that Jim could act like this... poor excuse of a man! And do I need to remind you that you're the one who put yourself in that position and, it's probably just a detail for you, but also ruined my childhood? I still can't believe you made me and then let me call this man _Dad_ for almost thirty years! And now you have the nerves to come and tell me to be careful with my husband?! You always see something wrong in Jim, it's like you're jealous I found such a great man that I know will never abandon me like you've been.' Mel said, lowering her voice a little at the end. She took a moment to breath and try to calm herself. 'And a piece of advise: you better change your attitude if you ever wanna meet my kids, there's no way I'm letting you see them if it's to be judged and questioned all the time. I've dealt with all this enough as I was a kid I won't let you put them through it too. And I'm gonna have to ask you to leave now.' Mel finished, turning her back on Beth.

'Melinda, I'm sor-'

'Don't! I can't look at you right now. You've hurt me enough as it is.' Mel said, still refusing to look at her mother.

'Please, let me-'

'Please, leave.'

After a short moment, Melinda heard the door closing, only to hear it opening seconds later.

'I want to be alone right now, ok?' she said quite harshly.

'Oh, sure. Sorry, I'll just-'

'Oh, no! I thought you were my mother. _You_ can stay.' she quickly said, turning to look at the door.

'Hey, I understand if you need to be on your own for a little while. Just tell me when you want me to be here.'

'Now, Jim. I want you to be with me now.' Mel sighed. 'I only said I wanted to be alone so my mother would leave, but I definitely need you right now.'

'Come here.' Jim whispered, walking towards her and taking her in his arms.

Mel let out a big breath while letting herself fall in his arms, appreciating how close he held her.

'I'm sorry.' Jim softly said after a quiet moment.

Mel looked at him, still wrapped in his arms, with an interrogating frown. 'For what?'

'Everything Beth and Tom put you through. I hate to see how much they hurt you and how bad they can make you feel.' Jim explained as Mel leaned her head back against his chest and sighed heavily once again. 'Wanna talk about it?' he asked softly.

'How much have you heard?' Mel asked him, figuring that he must have been not far since he came out there seconds after Beth left, which made her realize that he _was here_. 'How come you're home, by the way?'

Jim sat them down on the stairs, putting an arm around Mel's shoulders before answering. 'The station called as I was no further than our street to say they didn't need me after all, as the first team who left was back at the station. And so... I've heard the whole thing I think.' Jim confessed. 'I hated to stay there and listen and I would have came out if she had been any harder on you, but I thought it was something you had to do alone.'

'You were right and you don't have to be sorry for them, never be sorry for my mother or worse; Tom.' Mel said. 'Well then, there's not much more to say. Just... tell me you'll never abandon me.'

Jim looked at her with an amused look on her face, which confused her.

'What? Oh, god! She did it! She managed to make me doubt you. I'm sorry, I do trust you! I have no idea where this comes from. She's unbelievable!' Mel apologized as she realized what she had said.

'Don't worry, I know you trust me, and you're right I'll never abandon you.' slowly running a hand through her hair. 'She's you're Mom, Mel, what she says matters to you, whether you like it or not.' he added almost whispering.

'I definitely don't like it. I hate that she's able to mess so much with my mind.' Mel said sadly.

'Don't worry about her. You know, I'm very proud of you! You finally told her what you kept for you for so long. It was really brave of you. And it might sound mean but I'm with you; I don't want her around our kids if it's to make us feel bad about yourself and mess with them.' Jim said cautiously.

'I'm glad you agree.' Mel smiled, before kissing him softly. 'Thanks for being here and supporting me like you do.'

'Anytime.' Jim concluded.

They stood a few more minutes, holding each other when the door opened again.

'Hey there, is everything-. Aw sorry to interrupt.' Faith said softly, when her eyes fell on the couple. 'We just wondered if you were alright since you've been gone for a while.' she explained, smiling at them.

'Oh, I'm so sorry we left so long.' Mel quickly said, while getting on her feet. 'We're ok don't worry.' she added, the best smile she could do, on her face.

'The usual with your Mom?' Faith asked. 'I know you've never had a healthy relationship with her.' Faith added, seeing the surprised look on her daughter-in-law's face. 'Does she disapprove of the baby?' she asked worriedly.

'No, no she's happy for us. It wouldn't change anything if she disapproved anyway.' Mel assured, looking at Jim, a hand going on her stomach. 'She just has to question me for it, which makes me happy you found out first.' Mel added with a wide smile. 'Thanks for supporting me like you do, Faith. Seems like it runs in the family.' she pointed out looking between Faith and her son.

'You deserve it, Melinda. You're a wonderful person and you'll make a great Mom. And if your Mom can't see it, I'll be happy to remind you of it.' Faith finished.

'Well let's forget about that and go back inside to go on with our evening.' Jim proposed, knowing Mel wouldn't like talking about her mother much longer.

'You're right. Come on.' Mel said, taking Faith's arm and leading the way towards the door, keeping her eyes on Jim as long as she could.

When they arrived in the living room, Mel saw with surprise Jake, still sat on their couch. Catching the look on her face, Jake looked embarrassed.

'If you want me to, I can leave.' he said quickly getting up.

'Oh, no! Please stay. I'm just surprised but I'm really happy you decided not to leave with her.' Mel confessed, after checking that her mother had, indeed, left.

'Well, I'm guessing it's something between the two of you and that's not my business, but she left like she was on fire saying she had, again, another headache. So I figured I'd probably have more fun staying here anyway.' Jake said, a shy smile appearing on his face.

'I'm very glad you did.' Mel smiled back.

So they all sat down and enjoyed their coffee (for the ones drinking it) and herbal tea (for Melinda), while listening to soft music.

'So, Melinda. I wanna know everything about your pregnancy. How's it going?'

'Well, pretty good I guess, I can't really compare with something. I've had some little troubles a couple of weeks ago but since we're back from our vacation, I'm feeling much better. I manage to eat more, Jim makes sure I'm taking my vitamins every day,' she said laughing as he winked at her, smiling. 'It's still too early but we don't wanna know the sex right now, as long as the baby is healthy, it's all that matters. And again, thanks to Jim, since we don't know if we're having a boy or a girl, for now we're calling our baby; ferret!' Mel finished as everyone laughed.

'Aw I know where this comes from.' Faith said more seriously, looking deeply in her son's eyes. 'You used to watch this cartoon all the time with Dan, if I had let you would have watched it all day long. But I have to give you that it was a very sweet show.' Faith finished, her voice heavy with old memories.

Mel smiled at her, and at Jim, who smiled back. She then took a minute, staying quiet, to look at everyone in the room, Ellis and Jake in an animated conversation about baseball, Jim and his Mom catching up, Jim telling her about their vacation, and she let herself thought that maybe this could still be a nice evening.

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_Please Review _


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